Elevate
by DarkElements10
Summary: From the outside, the music industry looks glamorous. But on the inside, it's a lot of hard work and it can be cutthroat. Big Time Rush learn that the hard way by experiencing it themselves while working on their second CD. They say that LA is nothing short of drama and scandals, and they were right...
1. Big Time Gold Album

**Elevate**

**By: Riley**

**Summary **** - From the outside, the music industry looks glamorous. But on the inside, it's a lot of hard work and it can be cutthroat. Big Time Rush learn that the hard way…by experiencing it themselves…**

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><p><strong>.:Chapter One- Big Time Gold Album:.<strong>

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><p>"So what do you wear to a party that announced the certification of your first album?" Logan Mitchell asked as he stood in front of his closet. He looked up as James Diamond placed a hand on his shoulder and pulled him back a few steps, looking at the spread that was in front of him.<p>

"Whatever it is, you won't find it in _your _closet." James replied with a half smile.

"Gee, thanks." Logan rolled his eyes.

"No problem, buddy." James replied with a warm smile, patting him on the shoulder and walking around him to look at the clothes as well. "But if we try to mix and match some things, we might be able to find what you're looking for." He reached into his pocket and pulled out his lucky comb, running it through his hair a few times. "But, of course, no one could as good as me."

"Logan, you might as well choose whatever you want to wear," Kendall Knight, who was sitting on his bed in the room, watching them, commented. "Because we all know that in James' mind he has a plan of making sure that none of us look as good as he does."

James turned to Kendall with a wide eyed expression, slowly pointing to himself. "Moi?" He questioned with as much innocence as he could possible project in his voice, although he was smiling like a loon. "Never."

"You," Kendall replied, pointing right as James as well. "Always." He sat up straight, tossing a hockey magazine aside. "I don't even really understand why you guys are freaking out? It's just like any other party that Gustavo has ever made us go to." He rolled his green eyes. "You dress up, go to Rocque Records, and have to meet as many boring people as you possibly can in twenty minutes, before you eat food that is disgusting, and then you have to talk to those boring people, acting like you know what they're talking about when it comes to record sales and everything."

"But Kendall, you're forgetting that at this part, we get to figure out what certification our album got." Logan reminded him. "And because of that, I predict a 75% chance of this party _not _being boring!"

"Only 75%?" James asked, cocking an eyebrow.

"This _is_ Gustavo we're talking about," Logan reminded him. "Remember the time that he had the party for us that we couldn't go to and we just had a party at the Palm Woods?" He grinned as he turned and crossed his arms over his chest. "Well, from what Kelly told me, that party was very boring to Griffin and Fujisaki."

"_Anything_ is boring to Fujisaki," James pointed out. "He's, like, 92, I'm surprised he's not dead yet!"

"My point," Logan stated, grabbing his attention once more. "Is that this time, we should at least be able to have a say in what happens at the party, you know, like what music they play or the appetizers." He raised his eyebrows. "At least, that's what I assumed when Kelly said that she wanted us to get there early."

"I don't care about that," Kendall stated as he waved a hand in the air. "I'm just glad that our friends can come this time, at least they'll have some fun." He gave a half smile. "Besides, with how much Camille has been begging me to invite her to some sort of party that we've gone to, this will at least get her to back off for a while."

"Is it everyone from the Palm Woods?" James asked as he effectively pushed Logan out of the way and tore through Logan's closet, tossing clothes this way and that as he tried to find something for his smarter friend to wear.

"No, just a couple of people," Kendall said as he shook his head. "So apart from mom and Katie; I invited Jo, Camille, and Stephanie, since they're the ones that we usually hang out with." He paused. "Although it wouldn't surprise me if the Jennifers find their way there, you know, since they have connections everywhere."

"And yet, they don't have any major film, dance, or singing roles." James reminded him.

"Don't let them hear you say that."

Logan smiled as he sat down on his bed and watched as James continued to go through his closet. He winced a little bit each and every time that James looked at something and threw it onto the floor. It just meant that he was going to have to clean it all up himself later, after he had worked so hard to arrange his clothes perfectly. But it was for a good cause, not too many people could say that they moved out to LA and in six months had a CD put out.

Logan blinked and suddenly looked around when he realized that it was too quiet. "Hey guys, where's Carlos?"

"You noticed how quiet it was, too?" Kendall asked, totally deadpan. "Last I checked, he said that he was going to the pool." He paused for a moment. "Which means that he's going to be running back in here in about thirty seconds, screaming his head off, because he managed to piss someone off."

As soon as he finished the sentence, they could hear a scream growing louder and louder from the hallway outside of their apartment. Kendall, Logan, and James looked at each other for a moment before hurrying over to the door of the bedroom and poking their heads out, just in time to see the door to the apartment fly open and Carlos Garcia come darting into the apartment, closing the door behind him, resting his back on it.

"How did you do that?" James asked, turning to Kendall.

Kendall just shrugged modestly. "It's like clockwork." He replied.

"Carlos, what did you do this time?" Logan asked as he waited for his friend to calm down and catch his breath.

"I was just talking to Stephanie about how much fun this party was going to be tonight," Carlos replied, placing a hand on his chest, breathing heavily. "And the Jennifers heard me and got mad that we didn't invite them, and next thing I know, the whole Palm Woods is mad that they couldn't come."

"You didn't invite them all, did you?" Logan asked, his eyes growing wide. _Even Carlos isn't that stupid._

"No," Carlos shook his head. "But they chased me all the way back here." He sucked in a deep breath and let it out slowly. "I don't think I've ever run that fast before; at least not since we were chased by Ms. Magicowski's crazy dog."

Kendall sucked in a sharp breath as he remembered that day. He supposed that it was his fault that they had been chased. When they were about nine or ten they had been using one of their snow days off of school to go sledding throughout the neighborhood. They were walking back to Kendall's house when they spotted her dog in the backyard. Kendall thought that it was funny how he could throw some snowballs over the fence for the dog to try and play catch with. Soon, Logan, James, and Carlos had joined in and they were playing with the dog. But someone, he still wasn't so sure, had thrown an ice ball at the dog and it had gone nuts. Of course they didn't know that the dog had dug a hole under the fence a couple of days before, at least not until it started to crawl under the fence towards them. They had turned and ran away as fast as they could, but ended up being chased by the dog around the block four times before they were able to get into Kendall's house and to safety. But it took them weeks before they went the normal way to school after that.

Plus, it gave Carlos the insatiable fear of big dogs.

"I'm still sorry about that," Kendall said defensively as soon as he noticed that Logan and James were staring hard at him. "Anyway, it's good that you're here, Carlos, James was just going through Logan's closet to look for clothes for tonight and I'm sure that he's going to go through yours any minute."

"It doesn't matter what I choose for Carlos," James complained, crossing his arms over his chest. "He's just going to ruin it with that stupid helmet anyway!"

Carlos smiled as he reached up and double tapped the hockey helmet that was on his head. "That's right! I'm not going to get rid of this thing and you can't make me!" He stuck his tongue out at his friends. "So there."

"Just shut up and let's get going," Logan said. He tilted his watch towards his face and looked at the time. "Gustavo is going to be really mad if we're late, especially since he specifically told us to get there early so we can go over some things about our next album before the party starts."

Gustavo Rocque, their music producer, was well known for making boy bands, and he was the one that got Kendall, Logan, Carlos, and James to become Big Time Rush. Although they did, sort of, consider him their friend, they could do without his constant screaming, ranting, raving, and berating them. It would be the sign of the apocalypse if Gustavo Rocque willingly gave them a compliment and they weren't going to hold their breath about it. Even though he did tend to make them feel bad, he was always there to try and help them make their CD the best that it could be, and now they were going to see how all of their hard work paid off.

"When is he _not _mad?" Kendall replied with a smile.

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><p>"You know, I think this is the first time that I've seen Gustavo actually <em>talk<em> to someone without raising his voice." James commented to Jo Taylor, Stephanie King, and Camille Roberts at Rocque Records later that night.

Gustavo had converted one of the dance studios in the building to a party space and it was packed. There were people that worked all throughout Rocque Records there, Griffin was there, Mr. Fujisaki was there, kids from the Palm Woods were there (Gustavo had let them in after he had screamed at Big Time Rush for not following his instructions), and even Dak Zevon, Jordan Sparks, and Ed Begley Jr. had made an appearance earlier that night. And they were all there to congratulate Big Time Rush on the completion and record sales of their first album.

"I think he has to be calm," Camille replied, pulling her hair from her face. "From what you guys have told me, and from what I've seen, he seems to be kind of afraid of Griffin, and since he's here, I think that may have something to do with it." She couldn't help but giggle with the other girls as they watched Griffin say something to Gustavo, which clearly irked him, as Gustavo gritted his teeth together and said something back, nodding slowly.

"Thank you guys for inviting us," Stephanie said as he lowered her video camera from her eye and turned to Big Time Rush. "This party is really cool and we can't wait to see how well your CD did."

"Yeah, you and us both." Katie Knight, Kendall's younger sister, agreed as she walked over with a cup of punch in her hand. But the smile on her face seemed kind of odd, like she was waiting for something to happen. She tilted her head and gave her brother a sweet smile. "I can't wait to see how my brother and his friends have-"

"Katie," Kendall interrupted. "Mom has already told you that you can't have any of the money that I'm giving you guys from our record sales." He said patiently. "At least not until you turn 18, so all of your compliments and everything isn't going to help your case."

Katie pouted, sticking out her lower lip. "Fine." She replied shortly. She shuffled her feet for as second. "But I really _am_ proud of you, Big Bro."

"Thanks, Baby Sister." Kendall replied with a smile, putting an arm around her shoulders and drawing her into his side for a hug.

"I don't mean to interrupt this feel good, family moment, but it's polite to greet _all_ of your guests, not just your friends." Riley Jackson-McGuire commented as she and her brothers and sister managed to squeeze their way through the crowded room to stand by their friends. "Hey guys, congratulations!" She greeted.

"Hey!" Kendall, Logan, Carlos, and James replied in unison, their eyes lighting up when spotting their friends and "co-workers".

Riley, Rhuben, Patrick, Noah, and Sydney Jackson-McGuire, aka the DarkElements, were a band that Big Time Rush has been working with for a little over a year. They had become co-workers shortly after Big Time Rush had gone out to LA to start their band, and Gustavo and Griffin quickly decided that they need help. So they got some help from Dak Zevon, but as he was busy with his own performance career (as he specialized in musicals on Broadway/on the big screen/on the small screen) they needed another band to help them. The DarkElements are originally from Sydney, Australia, where they have found numerous amounts of success. They went over to LA to try and make it big in America a few months before Big Time Rush moved to LA, and Gustavo (albeit unwittingly) agreed to hire them to work with Big Time Rush. Even though the DarkElements specialize in hard/alternative/Punk rock for their band, they had originally started in pop music, so they were the ones that Gustavo knew could easily help them.

So they worked together, while Big Time Rush worked on their debut album titled BTR, the DarkElements was working on remastering their first CD from Australia (which is self-tilted) to be released in the US and as they are seen as rivals in the music industry, they released them at the same time. But while they were seen as rivals in the music industry, when they weren't working, BTR and DE were actually really good friends. Even their manager/music producer, Ronan McGuire seemed to have become friends with Gustavo, although you wouldn't know that just by watching them make fun of each other all the time.

"So, first CD certification anxiety, how does it feel?" Patrick asked, his blue eyes shining with excitement. "Kind of got that queasy feeling right?"

"Right," Carlos agreed, placing a hand on his stomach. "We're really nervous."

"Don't be," Sydney stated with a calm smile, dimples appearing in his cheeks. "The fact that your guys CD has gone flying off the shelves as well as been selling like crazy on iTunes is a really good sign that your CD is going to do well."

"What about your guys' CD?" Jo asked as she turned to the raven-haired family. "You released them at the same time as the guys, when are you going to know about yours?" She lightly tapped her nails on her cup of punch. _It's hard to believe that people that used to be so closed off are now so open and…helpful._

"Not for a couple of months," Rhuben replied as raised and lowered her left shoulder in a shrug. That one-armed shrug was one of the many things that the Jacksons were famous for. Others being that they were very perceptive, could make you scared with a glare, and cared a lot about other people. "But it's just as well, apparently something screwed up with iTunes on our page…?"she shrugged.

"That's technology for ya." Sydney added with a short roll of his eyes. "So, did you guys meet everyone that works at Rocque Records yet?" He stifled a smile. "Kind of boring blokes, huh?"

"You don't know the half of it," Kendall replied as he rolled his eyes.

"Don't worry about it, Kendall, almost _every _record company have workers that are really, really, boring." Riley reassured him. "It's just the way it is. Usually they're the ones that work on the paper work and the finances, while the music producers and everyone else are the ones that are fun."

"Gasp," Noah gave a smirk as he turned his attention to his sister. "You called him 'Kendall' it _must_ be the sign of the apocalypse."

"Hey, it's a special day for them," Riley merely shrugged. "I figured I'd lay off for tonight."

"Good to know." Kendall deadpanned.

"Guys, shh, I think Gustavo's going to announce what certification you got now." Rhuben reached out and grabbed onto Logan's arm, giving him a small smile. "Come on, you want to be at the front. You're never going to forget this for the rest of your life." She looked down at Sydney, who earnestly nodded in agreement.

"No, Rhuben being easily excited is the sign of the apocalypse," Stephanie joked and they all laughed as the moved to the front of the room as Gustavo and his partner, Kelly Wainright, grabbed everyone's attention by lightly tapping the side of his glass with a fork.

"May we have everyone's attention please?" Kelly asked, looking around the room, and then smiling. "We're all here today so we can celebrate Big Time Rush's first CD." She said and then paused for the applause that came from everyone in the room right after. "They have worked really hard for the past year and we can honestly say that it was probably one of the best CDs that we have made in a while."

Gustavo nodded and spoke up. "I know that people had their doubts about me when I said that I was making a new boy band, but after I met these boys…" he paused and looked a little uncomfortable. "I knew that they were different. Even if they all sucked, they had the heart and some passion in what they were doing." He paused at the laughter that came from the crowd. "I'm not joking." Even harder laughter.

"Just get on with it," Kelly said through a forced smile, elbowing Gustavo in the side with her elbow.

"Fine, fine," Gustavo waved an arm towards the boy. "Dogs come up here." He paused as he looked at Griffin and Fujisaki. "Yes, I call them 'Dogs', it's my special nickname for them."

_Yeah, that's it. _James thought as he, Kendall, Logan, and Carlos moved to stand beside Gustavo and Kelly. He rubbed his hands together in anticipation before wiping his sweaty palms off on the sides of his pants. _This is it, I can finally see if my dreams are coming true! _He couldn't help but smile with pride as he looked at his friends, who were also waiting anxiously.

"So, with all of their hard work and their record sales; selling 67,000 copies in the first week of its release," Gustavo paused as he and Kelly grabbed onto four large frames that were leaning against the wall and handed them out to the boys. "We are proud to tell them that their first CD…went Gold!"

Kendall, Logan, James, and Carlos let out different sounds of excitement and surprise as they grabbed onto and looked at their frames. On one side was a large gold CD, on the other side was a large picture of their album art, and on a small plaque at the bottom of the frame read: Big Time Rush, B.T.R. 24 KT Gold plated record. Underneath that it read: "This Gold Album is certified to" and then their name was placed under that.

"This is so awesome!" Carlos declared as he held up his large frame and turned it around to stare at the plaque on it himself, his eyes growing wide as he continued to stare at it. "We have ourselves our very own Gold CD."

"And it's only going to get better from here." Kendall said.

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><p><strong>AN: Alright, so this is the first chapter to my new story, it was kind of slow, but I still liked it. Like my BTR stories usually are, this is mostly going to be a BTR/OC (DE) friendship story, but there will be romance in it as well. (Also, just so you know I have romance centered stories coming up soon). As well as it being a heavy look into the music industry, I'm putting a LOT of teenage pressures in here as well as pressure from the music industry as well.**

**Eh, sorry I didn't show Mrs. Knight and Ronan in this chapter, I didn't really see how I could fit them in here when I wanted it to focus on the guys and their party as well as getting their CD certification.**

**Almost every character from the show will appear at least once in this story, so there's going to be massive amounts of friendship/family/brotherly-sisterly love in this story so I hope you like that as well. What did you think about this first chapter? I'm having some of the things that they do in the story mirror actual events that the guys have done in real life, but in show verse. For example, having their first CD go gold.**

**I hope you guys liked this and I'll update again soon.**

**Cheers,**

**-Riles**


	2. Meetings and Phone Calls

**Chapter Two: Meetings and Phone Calls**

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><p>"Dogs, your second CD needs to go above and beyond what BTR did!" Gustavo said as he leaned back in his chair, threatening to fall over backwards completely. He placed his hands behind his head and glanced up at Kelly who was dutifully standing beside him, nodding along with what he said. "After the success of the first one, I think that you can top it. I'm even…" he paused and sat up straight, tugging at the collar of his shirt. "<em>Proud<em> of you boys."

"I'm sorry," Kendall stared at Gustavo with somewhat of a smug look on his face. "Could you please speak up? I didn't hear what you just said." His smile widened as Gustavo glared at him and Logan, James, and Carlos snickered quietly.

"I said I'm…" Gustavo then swallowed thickly before letting out a heavy sigh. "Proud of you boys."

"Sorry," James cupped a hand around his ear and leaned forward. "I still didn't get that."

"IsaidI'mproudofyou!" Gustavo snapped so fast that his words blended together.

"Sorry," Logan shrugged. "What was that?"

"DON'T PUSH IT!" Gustavo yelled, finally getting tired of the guys' antics. Kelly gave the four boys a sharp look and they all feel silent. "Anyway, we called you here today so we could go over the scheduling and the work on your second album. Now," he folded his hands and rested them on his desk. "Your last album was mostly written for you, except for the song that you wrote, This Is Our Someday." He paused as the four boys grinned at each other. "And technically, you didn't even really write that, because it was a co-write with the DarkElements."

"You're forgetting the song 'Oh Yeah," Kelly reminded him. "That was a really good song." She tapped her chin. "It was well received with the critics; we probably should have used it as one of the singles to promote the CD instead of one of the other ones." She added as an afterthought.

"_So_," Gustavo barked, causing Kelly to fall silent, his upper lip curling with disgust and annoyance. "For whatever reason, Griffin wants you to make your second CD more for you."

"What does that mean exactly?" Carlos asked as he took his helmet off of his head and lowered it to his lap.

"It means," Kelly spoke up, an excited smile on her face. Unlike her partner, Kelly was always willing to help the guys as well as to give them praise whenever they needed it. "That you guys are able to make your CD sound however you want; you can choose the genre rather than just pop as the last one was. _And_," she paused for dramatic effect as the boys perked up, their eyes growing wide. "Griffin wants you to write as many songs as you can for this CD, to make it more you."

James couldn't help but let a grin spread across his face. He knew that his dream was coming true when they got their gold album three weeks ago, but now things were getting better than they ever were before. _Now _they were making their second album, which he was sure was going to go platinum this time, and make it even bigger and better for their fans. Since they were going to be the ones writing it, they were going to be able to make it sounds like the CDs that _they_ all listened to and loved. His smile faded a bit as he thought about the last time they tried to write a song. _Well, at least this time we won't attack each other with drumsticks and cymbals. I don't think Gustavo has the money to replace them all again._

He looked over at his friends and from the grimaces on their faces; he could see that they were thinking the same thing. He turned back to Gustavo and Kelly and gave a charming smile, something that he as "the face" was famous for. "Don't worry guys; we'll do a great job when it comes to writing songs this time!"

"You better be," Gustavo warned. "But just in case, I and some others are going to be writing songs as well, just in case you can't come up with something good."

"Which you will." Kelly broke in.

"Yeah, whatever," Gustavo rolled his eyes behind his sunglasses. "Keep hope alive there."

Kelly reached out and lightly hit Gustavo on the arm, shaking her head at the boys, who smiled in reply. "Really, boys, all of us here at Rocque Records are proud of you. You've really come up on the radar so you have to make things so much better than before." She pulled her clipboard from her chest and looked down at it, checking off a few things. "Alright," she walked around Gustavo's desk and perched at the edge of it, crossing her legs. "First things first, what kind of sound would you like your CD to have? Keeping up with the pop theme, of course."

"Why of course?" Carlos asked, raising an eyebrow as he rested his arms on his helmet. "I think we should try something new." He suggested.

"The whole "If it isn't broke; don't fix it" paraphrase," Logan spoke up. "Because we're the proverbial 'boy band'," he used air quote around the words, although he didn't seem bothered by the name. "Pop music is going to be our main staple. We can expand off of that, but we want our fans to still be able to recognize us."

"But I agree with Carlos that we should do something a bit different," Kendall spoke up, crossing his arms and legs. "I mean, most of our reviewers said that our last CD was for kids, like, little kids. And that's not true." He shook his head. "We have fans our age and older and I think it would be good if we recognized that they are our fans. Like, make our music a bit more…"

"Sexy?" James suggested. He shrugged when the other guys turned and looked at him with slight glares. "Hey, sex sells!"

"He's right," Kelly commented as she pointed her pen over at James. "Although you still want to make sure that your younger fans are able to actually _listen_ to the CD without a parent present." She reminded him, causing him to shrug and adopt his thinking face. "Ok, while you're thinking of that, we need to go over your scheduling for recording, song-writing and practices." She flipped a page on her clipboard. "The DarkElements are going to be helping you with this CD as well-"

"Awesome!" Carlos cheered, punching the air with his fists. "Then our CD will definitely be as great as it was last time!"

"You didn't let me finish," Kelly said patiently. "They're going to be helping you again, but won't be here as much as last time as they're going to be working on re-mastering their second album here as well as working on one to release back home."

"Two CDs?" Logan's eyebrows rose. "How's that possible?"

"Ok, think of it this way," Kelly tapped her chin for a moment. "They have about six CDs out back home that started from when they were young and in pop music, to how old they are now and working with darker stuff, so, basically as long as Riley and Rhuben have been making music, they've been cranking out CDs." She paused. "That's _not_ including the ones they did with all of those other kids like Kids Bop." She scanned the boys' faces as she continued. "So, they came over here a little over a year ago and re-mastered and released their first CD which included their first number one single on the ARIA charts 'It's Been a Summer', along with the first look at their darker stuff. Because they're working on making their music big here as _well_ as continuing their career back home, they're re-mastering their second CD as well as working on a new one to release back in Australia."

"Oh," Carlos nodded slowly. "Ok, that makes sense now." He then scratched the side of his head. "Is that why they're always going back to Australia every few months?"

Kelly nodded in reply. "That and they have photo shoots, and appearances, and press conferences to do, as well as needing a little break every now and then." She suddenly looked a little sad. "To be perfectly honest, I'm worried that they're working too much, but Ronan knows what he's doing and he knows when to give them time off."

"Also, from what I've heard, their schedule here in LA is nothing compared to the one at home." Logan added. "At least that's what Landy and Bella have told me." He scratched the back of his neck and stretched. "So what does this mean for our image? Does that have to change too?"

"Of course!" James broke in before Kelly could say anything. "Every time you make a new CD, you're practically re-inventing yourself. So we need to change our look for the new CD too." He grinned. "I was thinking we should wear a lot of white."

"White stains too easily!" Gustavo barked. "Besides, I know that Corndog-Boy over here would get mustard or something all over his clothes." He added as he gestured violently to Carlos, who seemed to shrink down in his chair as soon as he was acknowledged.

"You can't have a corndog without mustard." He practically whispered s he gave as sheepish smile.

"As Kelly was saying," Gustavo quickly changed the subject.

He lost his sharp demeanor as he took off his sunglasses and rested them on the table. Now the guys knew that he was being serious, as he never took off his sunglasses unless it was something that they really needed to know; so the boys gave him their undivided attention. Even though they didn't get along with Gustavo all the time, he was still part of their "LA Family" and he was the one that still saw some sort of something in all of them that was causing them to become a success. If asked, they would probably unanimously agree that they wouldn't give Gustavo up for anything gin the world.

"For this new CD, if you're not at school, you're basically going to be spending all of your time either in Rocque Records or in your apartment working on your new music. If you're not singing, you're writing a song, if you're not writing a song, you're dancing. If you're not dancing, you're sleeping, eating, or doing your homework." Gustavo explained. "If it was possible, I'd take you out of school entirely, but you never know with the music industry, one day your music is great and everyone loves you, and the next thing you know, you're back in your home of Minnie-Soda studying trying to catch up on your studies."

James and Carlos let out shrieks at the idea of not continuing with Big Time Rush. Kendall and Logan, on the other hand, merely nodded. Kendall never really wanted to become a band in the first place, but jumped at the chance when the opportunity came, he knew that he still wanted to be a professional hockey player and he kept onto that dream, knowing that, like Gustavo said, there's a good chance that they could tank. Logan was always both sides of the same coin, part of him knew that they were going to be successful with the fan base that they had, but the other part of him was rational enough to remember that there was a good chance that they could go home sooner than they thought. James and Carlos, obviously had never even given it a second thought, as soon as they were in LA, they were in LA and nothing was going to drag them away from it.

"So," Gustavo looked at his watch. "I want you dogs to come with me into the studio so we can work on your vocals and everything, while Kelly starts setting up interviews and meetings with…all of those other important people that I don't care about."

"What about Lunch?" Kelly spoke up. "We said that we were going to meet up with Ronan and Kacy so we could talk about their scheduling with the other band and everything," she reminded him. Gustavo made a face. Kendall's and Katie's mother, Kacy Knight, was the boys' Momager and she took the job very seriously. So seriously that Gustavo knew he would be dead if he broke the lunch meeting. Kelly rolled her eyes and shot a wink towards the boys as he looked at his watch, as if thinking about it. "You know you're hungry, Gustavo."

"I know that!" Gustavo snapped back. "But we have so much stuff to do." He made a winning sound as his stomach growled loudly. "Fine," he ran a hand over his face before turning back to the boys. "You have the rest of the day off, but I need you back here tomorrow _as soon as school is over_! I'll send Kelly to get you boys to make sure you're on time. Just now that from now on, you run on my schedule." He waned.

The boys got up from their chairs and left Rocque Records with large smiles on their faces. Nothing, not even all of the hard work that they were going to have to put into the new CD was going to bring down their moods. There was nowhere else for them to go but up and they were going to make sure that happened.

"So, to celebrate the news of working on our new CD, who thinks that we should go to the mall?" James asked as he rubbed his hands together eagerly. "And spend all of that money that we got from our first CD and concert tickets."

"Me!" Carlos shoved his hand into the air. "I need to get some polish for my helmet." He then reached up to his head and stroked it lovingly.

"Why not?" Kendall asked with a shrug. "I need to get some new shoes," he stuck out his right foot and wiggled it to prove a point. "As well as some new hockey gear." He reached out and slapped Logan on the shoulder. "So is Mr. I-Save-All-Of-My-Money going to just stand there and carry all of our bags again?" He gave Logan a charming smile as the smarter boy gave him a tiny glare.

Logan raised a hand to his chin as he thought about it. _It __would__ be a good idea to continue saving my money for school, but then again, we really do deserve it and Mama Knight says that we can spend some of it on whatever we want as long as we put the rest of it away. _So maybe we should have some fun before we are in the studio all the time.

"The only bags that I'm going to be carrying are the ones that contain my new iPod, iPhone, and iPad," Logan smiled as he pulled his hand away from his chin and turned to Kendall. "Should we bring Katie or get some stuff for her?"

"I think it would be better if we brought her," Kendall commented with a snort. "Considering she'll be snapping at us if we got the wrong Gig, color, or size of an iPod or something." He looked at his watch. "So let's get back to the crib and get Katie and let's go." He rolled his eyes, although he was smiling. "Especially since after today our souls are in Gustavo's possession."

* * *

><p>Later that night, Kendall looked over at his phone that was sitting on his bedside table as it vibrated. Looking at his watch, he wondered who would be calling him at 11 before he glanced over at Logan, who was sleeping soundly. <em>Always go to bed early, so you're well rested for the next day. <em>Kendall repeated Logan's words in his head as he put his _Sports Illustrated_ down and grabbed his phone, looking at the screen.

He smiled for a moment before sliding the front of his iPhone to the side and putting the phone up to his ear. "Hey Riles, what's up?" He asked.

"Not much, Hockey-Head" Riley replied, sounding like she was tired. She paused for a second as he listened to someone in the background. "Hold on, the others say 'hi'."

Kendall pulled the phone away from his ear for a second as he heard Rhuben, Patrick, Noah, and Sydney's voices come over the phone all saying 'hi' or 'hey Kendall' at the same time. If he had to guess, they were sitting in the same room and Riley had held out her phone so he could hear all of them. "Hey guys." He replied. "No offense, but I figured you'd be calling Logan."

"Ronan says 'hi' too," Riley added into the phone. "And as for Logie, he's asleep, he always sleeps early." Kendall looked over at Logan again, wondering how she knew that. "Besides, Rhu called him earlier today. Anyway, Ronan said that you guys had a meeting about your second CD today, and since we weren't able to get to Rocque Records today, we were wondering if we missed anything."

Kendall made a snorting sound. "Don't you mean _you_ wondered what you missed?"

"You're the one that volunteers the information, not me," Riley swiftly replied, as if expecting him to say it. "Besides, I've been working all day, I could use the entertainment."

"That bad?" Kendall asked as he slid down in his bed, bringing his knees up and resting his magazine against it, cradling his phone against his ear.

"It wasn't bad really, just a lot of scheduling problems with working on two CDs and working with you guys, but I think we figured out a good schedule to make sure that everything that needs to be done is done on time." She let out a sigh. "So, your second CD, have you figured out the genre or anything yet?"

"Not yet," Kendall replied, shaking his head even though she couldn't see him. "We basically just got lectured on how this CD needs to be much bigger and better than the last one."

"Yeah, I remember that lecture." Riley said in a way that Kendall could tell that she was rolling her eyes.

"It wasn't bad really," Kendall insisted. "We just have a lot to think about with the new genres and the new sound, as well as our new image and everything. Plus, Griffin and Gustavo want us to write as many songs for the album as we can."

"Well, as long as you don't get stuck in another tin-foil war, things should be fine, Eyebrows." Riley replied.

Kendall laughed as he turned the page of the magazine, making sure he wasn't too loud and would wake up Logan. "I was thinking the same thing."

…

..

.

Mrs. Knight yawned as she placed her mug of coffee in the sink; lighting rinsing it out with water, cutting down the time that it would take to clean the dishes the next morning. She turned off the lights in the main area of the apartment and headed over to hers and Katie's shared room, only stopping when she spotted the light on in Kendall's and Logan's room. Quietly walking over to the room, she pushed open the door and peered inside before smiling and entering the whole way. Logan was fast asleep, smiling like he usually did, and Kendall was asleep as well, stretched out on his back. His phone rested against his chest, held there by his right hand.

She picked up his phone and checked the screen, her eyes widening when she noticed that the call had been going on for over four hours. Looking at her watch, her eyebrows twitched when she saw that it was 3:00 in the morning. She ended the call and placed his phone on his bedside table before turning off the light, sending the room into darkness.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **So the second chapter is done and I already have an idea for everything. I'm not sure how long this story is going to be though. I wanted to go really in depth into how the music industry went, which is why I had a long scene of the boys with Gustavo and Kelly talking about the new way that their second CD was going to go. Also, I'm not sure if you guys remembered, but this story is also going to show how BTR and DE are different and I hope that you can see some of that here.

This chapter focused on Kendall, the next one is on Logan, then James, then Carlos, and then it goes into focusing on everyone. Just like my other stories its third person omniscient but goes into someone's mind as well, and if it goes into 1st person, I'll let you know in an author's note at the beginning of the chapter.

Could anyone see the song I referenced in here? It's only the start of all of the drama that's going on in the story. Some of the ideas that I have for this story is what I was going to put into 'I'm With You' but ended up taking it out, so I hope that you guys are ready for that as well .What do you guys think? Just like with _Darkness Of My Past_ I'm going to go back and re-edit chapters after your guys' comments, so let me know.

Also this story has moments where it refers to/mentions things that have happened in WFLT/It's The Rush That You Get (although the re-write isn't technically connected to the first one) and this isn't really connected to those stories either, but since they're 'origins' stories, some moments are the same. So I hope that doesn't confuse you.

Thanks to **MysticMelody101, BTR-Fan-4Lyfe, youspinmelikearecord, shotinthedark, Got2LiveItBigTime, DarkElement-Jackson-Fan, Lella-Kiley-Luvr, LogieLuvr914, BigTimeFan-'10, Rage-Against-Time, and BigTimeRush-DarkElements-Fan** for reviewing.

Cheers,

-Riles


	3. Soccer Games and Dance Clubs

**Chapter Three: Soccer Games and Dance Clubs**

* * *

><p>"So, have you come up with a genre for the CD yet?" Gustavo asked with a groan as he stared at the four boys that sat in front of him a couple days later. "I don't know why I'm asking," he added under his breath. "Considering these idiots couldn't even come up with a decent <em>band name<em>."

Kelly elbowed him sharply in the side, glaring at the side of his head before turning to BTR, shaking her head. "Don't worry about him, he's already getting bugged by Griffin and he's in a bad mood." She noticed Kendall's snort. "Not like he's _never_ in a bad mood, but in one of his worse ones." She flipped her hair over her shoulder. "So, have you come up with genre ideas?"

"It's a toss-up, really," James said as he slid down in his chair, stretching his legs out, crossing them at the ankle. "We really thought about how we wanted to make sure that our older fans are aware that we really thank them for everything as well as our younger fans."

"And?" Gustavo barked.

"And…we're still stuck," Carlos said and jammed his helmet onto his head when he saw the furious look on Gustavo's face. "It's all right, Gustavo," he reached into his pocket and pulled out a corn dog. "Here, have a corndog, they make everything better." He flinched and shrank back as Gustavo reached out and smacked the meaty treat out of his hand.

"Where did he even get that?" Logan asked James, shrugging. "I thought I cleaned out all of his pockets."

"You know Carlos and his corndogs," Kendall supplied. "You can't keep them apart for too long." He clasped his hands together and leaned forward. "Gustavo, Kelly, we're having a bit of trouble coming up with the genre, but maybe when we hear the sampling of the first song, it'll give us inspiration?"

"Not gonna happen, _dog_," Gustavo replied sharply, holding up his hand in the 'stop' position. "We need to know the genres so we can figure out which music samples to keep and which to give away."

Logan rolled his eyes and looked at his watch. This was taking up more time than they thought that it was going to take. When Gustavo had screamed for them that morning, they were under the assumption that it would be a short meeting and that they would actually start working on their CD the next day. But it had already been hours from when they had gotten to Rocque Records and it didn't seem like they were going to be done any time soon. Logan lifted his head from his watch and let out a heavy sigh.

"Sorry, Logan," Kelly turned her brown eyes to him. "Are we inconveniencing you?"

"Oh," Logan blushed and shook his head. "No, not really."

"Logan," Kelly said firmly, pressing the clipboard against her chest. "We're a team, not just you guys and Gustavo, but me too." She leaned forward, looking right into his eyes, causing him to lean back instinctively. "So I hope you're telling me the truth."

"Truth is," Carlos started slowly. "We kind of sort of, promised the Jacksons that we would go to their charity soccer game today, because we thought that this meeting wouldn't go too long." He gave a sheepish smile. "And it's really close to starting, so…"

"No!" Gustavo growled.

"But Gustavo, we promised!"

"I said 'no'," Gustavo continued. "You have work to do, you signed a contract, and I need you here!"

"But they _did_ promise," Kelly pointed out to Gustavo. "And besides, we're not getting much done right now and if we continue to pressure them, then things might go downhill before they actually figure things out."

"Whose side are you on, anyway?" Gustavo asked, suddenly looking like all of the stress had started to get to him…and they hadn't even started the CD yet. "Is this about McGuire? You like him more than me, don't you? That's why you're on their side!"

Logan placed a hand over his mouth to keep from bursting out laughing. It was actually quite pathetic to see how all of the stress and anxiety of the CD being very good was obviously getting to Gustavo. All he needed to do was relax a little bit and things would be fine.

"Knock it off, you big baby," Kelly sighed as she rolled her eyes, turning back to the guys. "I don't know boys, Gustavo's right, we need to start-"

Logan nudged Kendal land James in the sides and then leaned over to Carlos. They all nodded and then turned back to Kelly, sticking their lower lips out as far as they could, widening their eyes as well, and giving her their best pouts. It usually worked against their mothers, last time they were able to see the latest slasher flick that was rated 'R' when they were 14. They just flashed those pouts and their mother's gave in. Of course Mrs. Knight went along to watch it with them, and of course they had nightmares for months, but it was all worth it.

"Fine," Kelly sighed, ignoring Gustavo's outburst of rage. "You can go. But we need you back here later this afternoon, once the games over!" She called over the boys' whooping and hollering as they leapt out of their seats. "And you better be ready for all of the work that you're going to be putting in starting tomorrow!" She raised her voice even higher when they hurried out of the room. "And you better not say that I haven't done anything for you guys!"

She turned her head and looked back at Gustavo, who glared back at her.

"Oh, shut up."

* * *

><p>"Are we late?" Logan asked as he, Kendall, James, and Carlos climbed onto the bleachers next to their friends. "Did we miss anything?" He scanned the bleachers, frowning slightly when he realized that Jo Taylor, Stephanie King, and Camille Roberts were there, but their other friends Wally 'WayneWayne' Dooley and Dak and Lizzie Zevon weren't. "Where are the others?"<p>

"No," Stephanie shook her head as she lifted her sunglasses up her forehead. "But it's really cool that they're doing a soccer game for charity. I mean, I didn't know that there were that many kids that were being a bused out there, but being able to help in any way is cool." She leaned over and handed her video camera to Sydney, who was dutifully sitting next to them on the stands, a clipboard on his lap.

"Dak, Lizzie, and WayneWayne all had stuff to do today, remember? Auditions and things that they couldn't get out of last minute, Katie's with Lizzie too." Camille added, finishing off Logan's questions. She gave him a friendly smile as she lowered her sunglasses from her nose. "But they wanted us to continually text them the progress of the game."

"If you're even watching," Kendall pointed out, referencing to Jo's and Camille's…lack of enthusiasm for sports.

"You know us too well," Jo agreed.

"You should have seen how fast they jumped at the chance to play," Ronan stated as he turned off his phone and shoved it into his pocket. He then turned and held his hand out towards the guys. "Hey, glad that you could make it." He shook each of their hands. "Gustavo told me that you guys are starting work on your second album today. It seems kind of early."

"Yeah," Carlos agreed with a nod as he pulled off his helmet. "He said something about wanting to beat out the rush of the other people's CDs that are coming out soon." He scratched the back of his head. "He also said something about you guys not starting to work on your 2nd…and 7th CDs until next week."

"Figures," Ronan gave an easy-going smile. "He never was one for healthy competition." He shrugged. "I'll just assume that's why he hired me to help." He then patted Logan on the shoulder. "But it's really good to see you guys, it was way too quiet without you around when we were back in Australia."

"Us and quiet aren't really synonymous, Ronan." Sydney spoke up.

"That's true." Ronan laughed as everyone turned their attention to the warm-ups.

"Wow, they're really good." James said as he shielded his face from the sun, watching as his four friends, Riley, Rhuben, Patrick, and Noah skillfully moved across the field, passing the ball to each other.

"Oh yeah," Sydney nodded. "We've all been playing soccer since we could walk, but Julius is _so much_ better than we are. He plays in college as well as lacrosse and basketball."

"Is there any sport that you guys _don't_ do?" Jo asked, turning to the small boy.

"There's a lot," Sydney replied as he raised and lowered his eyebrows. "Tennis, Field Hockey, Ice Hockey, all of us but Julius are actually pretty bad at basketball, rugby, volleyball, swimming-"

"But you guys surf and stuff." Jo pointed out.

"Yeah, but we sink like rocks."

Stephanie laughed and then brought her camera up to attention when the referee blew the whistle to signal the start of the game. It went pretty slow at first, a lot of back and forths. Stephanie liked soccer, but watching it could be pretty boring. Because of that, she spent most of her time of the first half filming fans that had noticed that Big Time Rush were at the game, that flipped and asked for their autographs. It was easy to see that they were enjoying the attention, but were also not very used to it. She turned her attention back to the game when there was a roar from the crowd, as the ref blew the whistle for a fowl.

Logan looked at Sydney funny as he nudged him on the arm, pointing towards the field as Noah backed up a few feet away from the sidelines of the soccer field, his hands on the ball. "What's he doing?" He asked, grabbing Sydney's attention.

"Oh," Sydney scribbled something onto his clipboard (which he had explained to the boys that it was a compilation of the stats of the opposing team, just in case they went against them some other time) and then looked up once more. "He's going to do a throw-in."

"From back there?"

"Mhm."

"You don't mean….."He trailed off with a slightly unsure look on his face.

Noah took off; he ran three quick steps to get his speed up then threw himself forward, holding the soccer ball solidly between his palms. He did a front flip, landing on his feet and with a whipping motion sent the ball sailing, as he dragged his back foot to make sure he stayed legal. Throwing was all in technique and the flip gave a great whipping motion that gave the ball a great distance. An opposing team member headed the ball back down the field, bypassing Riley, Patrick, and Noah as he charged the ball. Rhuben blocked his bath and with some skillful footwork, she managed to get the ball away from him.

Rhuben launched the ball up to Noah. The opposing team member in a blue penny popped out of nowhere and challenged him, after a short show off Blue-Penny stole it and dribbled the other way. But with both Riley's and Rhuben' pressure Blue-Penny kicked it ahead of him just a little too much and Riley promptly sent it sailing back up to the forward.

Patrick was waiting; he absorbed the ball with his chest and headed back up the field. Noah ran after him as fast as he could, even sprinting ahead, so he could position himself to the goal. Without even lifting his head to check if he was there, Patrick crossed the ball over to Noah. Noah pulled his right leg back and shoved it forward, his foot connecting with the ball with a loud pop; sending ball sailing through the top right corner of the goal before the goalie even got out of his crouch.

Noah jumped up, punching both fists into the air as Patrick, Riley, and Rhuben ran over to him. The audience erupted into cheers as Patrick and Noah did a chest-bump and Riley and Rhuben grabbed him in their arms, giving him a hug.

Ronan stuck the index fingers on both of his hands into his mouth and whistled loudly as their friends cheered and clapped wildly.

"Wow." Stephanie commented as she shook her head, lowering her video camera from her face. "I hope I got that."

"I bet Dak, WayneWayne, Katie and Lizzie are regretting not being able to go now," Jo commented. A sly smile slid onto her face as she pulled her phone from her pocket and grabbed onto James, Kendall, and Camille, who were the closest ones to her. "Let's make them regret it." She said and handed her phone over to James, who moved into the center of the trio and held the phone arm's length away. The three of them grinned as James took the picture.

Jo then took her camera back and uploaded the picture onto her ScuttleButter account with the tag: **JoTaylor**: _Hanging out a charity soccer game with some of the best people on the planet_.

"Damn," Carlos grinned as he turned to Kendall and Logan. "That was good."

"It was," Logan agreed with a smile. It faded quickly. It wasn't that he wasn't excited for them, he was, but he just all of a sudden felt that he was out of the loop. He was finally starting to feel the effects of having not been in contact with them for a long time; he knew that they could play soccer, but not that well.

The rest of the first half the other team worked hard to keep the ball away from Patrick and Noah because they were playing so well. But that was their game plan, as Sydney had explained to the others. Make it look like Patrick and Noah were the stronger ones, and then Riley and Rhuben could sneak in some goal while the other team underestimated them .Most of the defenders were focusing on the twin boys so she only had one guarding her, Rhuben beat him easily and called for the ball. Patrick's head shot up to looked at her from his position close to the side line, without hesitation he sent the ball sailing in a perfect cross, all she had to do was blast it into the goal, which she did with ease.

The second half went much better. On a corner kick Patrick sent the ball in a perfect curve right into the all the players crowded in the goal box. Riley absorbed the kick with her chest and passed the ball down to her feet, scoring a quick goal, sending the ball over the goalie's head. They ended up winning the game 4-3, as the other team scored three quick goals towards the end.

"Great game, guys." Ronan grinned and grabbed his kids in a hug as they exited the field after the game ended, tired, but smiling with pride, nonetheless.

"Thanks Ronan," Patrick replied as the two bumped fists.

"Yea yea, you guys are gross, let's celebrate!" James exclaimed suddenly and lifted Riley up into his arms, causing her to shriek loudly, throwing her arms around his neck and kicking her legs back and forth rapidly.

"AHHHHH James! Put me down!" She shouted eyes wide with fear. As soon as her feet were back on the ground, she turned and started to pummel him with her open fists. "I _hate_ it when you _do _that."

"Oh, you know you love it." James replied with a charming smile.

"No, I really don't."

Logan laughed along with his friends. He could tell that she was really annoyed by it. Ever since their father got sent to jail, things had been getting better for them, they didn't react as badly as they did whenever their abuse was brought up, but they still refused to talk about it. They were getting over some other things as well, but they still freaked at sudden moves from other people, often flinching or letting out shrieks or screams. But he could see that things were getting better with them, and that's all that he wanted.

For them to be happy.

"So," Patrick spoke up. "In celebration, let's go out and do something fun," he said with a grin. He flicked his hair out of his face as a mischievous smile tugged at his lips. "Something that we haven't done before."

"Like what?" Jo asked innocently, hitching her purse up her shoulder. "We've done, like, everything here in LA."

"We haven't gone to that new club that opened up," Noah spoke up, a mischievous look on his face. He noticed Logan's suspicious look. "Relax, it's a club for teen and kids, we found it a couple of weeks ago. It's called the Red Heat."

"Yeah," Sydney chimed in with a nod. "We check it out and it's pretty cool, they have a room for coats and purses, as well as an area where you put your keys on hooks and the only way that you can get them back is if you ask the person that's manning that desk, so you don't have to worry about your car getting stolen." He grinned and licked his lips. "They have so much food too!"

"Way to be a boy and think of your stomach." Stephanie pointed out.

"You mean, way to be a ten year old boy and think of his stomach," Rhuben said as she reached out and ran her fingers through his hair. "I don't think I'd be able to take it when he starts getting interested in girls." She added with a slight eye roll.

James laughed along with his friends as Sydney smiled impishly, obviously loving the attention that was on him. He already knew that he was going to go to the club, as soon as he heard the word, his eyes lit up. It was something that he, Logan, Carlos, and Kendall always wanted to do, but were never allowed to do, because of the age limit, the fact that there was alcohol there, or because their mothers were completely against it. But now since there was a club that they were actually allowed to go to, it was time to party.

_But of course, Logan is going to be the one that's unsure of it, even though he knows that he really wants to go himself._ James thought to himself, rolling his eyes towards his smart friends.

"I don't know," Logan continued to stall as he raised a thumbnail up to his mouth and gently bit down on it. He briefly glanced over his shoulder as if he expected Gustavo to jump out at them any minute. "We had to beg Gustavo to let us take some time off and come here, I think we should be heading back to the studio."

"Oh that's too bad," Riley said with a fake pout as she reached towards the trunk of her car. "Because," she reached in and pulled out a hanger with a bunch of clothes on it and turned to Logan, holding it up. "I already have your guys' clothes here in my car." She smirked. "Coincidentally of course."

"Yeah, coincidentally." Logan repeated, rolling his eyes. "But we really have to get back to the studio, with this CD, Gustavo's rules are-"

"Since when do we ever follow the rules?" Rhuben asked, leaning against her sister, twirling her own set of car keys around her finger. She paused as Kendall, Logan, Carlos, James, Jo, Camille, Stephanie, and Katie all looked at her with raised eyebrows. "Ronan's yes, Gustavo's no." She clarified before turning to Logan, staring hard at him. "C'mon Logie-Bear," she smirked at his wince. "We've already cleared it with Ronan and he agrees that you guys should have one last 'bout of fun before Gustavo runs you into the ground. So he, Mama Knight, and Kelly are gonna take him out for drinks or dinner or something." She reached out and grabbed onto his arm. "I'll make it worth your while."

Logan looked down at her hand and then back up at her, still anxious, although he slowly started to smile.

Camille grabbed onto the hanger of clothes that Riley was holding out and shook it in front of Logan's face, grinning at him the whole time. "You know you waaaaaant tooooooo." She sang, swinging the clothes back and forth in the rhythm of her singing.

"I'm in!" Jo declared, raising her hand. "It sounds like it would be fun." She then clasped her hands together as she grinned. "That way I can go shopping."

"For what?" Stephanie gave her an odd look. "We're going to a _club_."

"Shopping for a boyfriend, duh!" Jo replied, rolling her eyes.

"And you think that you could actually fall in love with someone you meet at-"

"What's _love_ got to do with it?" Jo waved her hand. "I'm just looking for an accessory until I get bored."

"And it's no wonder girls don't understand why we say that they're confusing." Carlos started as he crossed his arms over his chest and shook his head. "But I agree with Jo…minus the shopping part, going to a club sounds like fun, and if they've found a way to make it that Gustavo won't get mad at us-"

"Which he will." Logan interrupted.

"Then I say, by all means, we should go." Carlos continued. He turned to James, who grinned, and nodded in reply, and the two exchanged a high-five. He reached over and then nudged Kendall on the arm, trying to convince him. "Plus, Riles already got our clothes; we wouldn't want her hard work to go to waste." He smiled as Kendall beamed and nodded as well, sealing in his fate.

Logan looked at Kendall, Carlos, and James' faces, they all held expressions of pleading. After a few seconds of looking at them, he felt himself cracking and groaned as he reached out and grabbed onto the hanger. "I've got to get new friends." He muttered.

* * *

><p>"Wow," Logan stated as he and his friends stepped into the dance club about an hour later. They had stopped at the mall to change into the clothes that Riley had brought to them before squeezing into their cars and going over to the club, meeting Dak, WayneWayne, Lizzie, and Katie there as well.<p>

They had all dressed up in their casual clothes, but as Riley had noted that the club had a semi-casual theme, it was a least a little bit fancier than their clothes already. Kendall had on a black fedora, a black shirt with a white tank-top and gray jeans. James had on a leather jacket, a red t-shirt, and black jeans. Carlos had on a black vest over a long-sleeved blue shirt, and blue jeans. Logan had on a long-sleeved sweater over a white shirt and tie with jeans. Dak was wearing a white baseball cap backwards on his head, a dark blue t-shirt, and jeans. WayneWayne was wearing a blue and white baseball styled shirt and jeans. Lizzie was wearing a pink off the shoulder shirt and black shorts. Katie was wearing a black jumper with a blue short sleeved jacket over it. Riley was wearing a red flannel shirt that was tied under her breasts with a dark red tank-top underneath and black shorts. Rhuben was wearing a black and purple striped shirt over black capri jeans with a chain swinging from her hips. Patrick was wearing a yellow tank-top under a black vest and dark jeans. Noah was wearing a black polo shirt over a white t-shirt, with a tie and brown shorts. Sydney was wearing a dark blue hoodie over a white t-shirt with jeans. Jo, Camille, and Stephanie had scoured the mall during the hour that they had from the soccer game to getting to the club and found three matching dresses in three different colors: pink, light purple, and light green. They had paired with their favorite pair of high-heels.

"This looks really cool." He admitted. And it did, the lights on the ceiling were dimmed, but there were brightly colored lights flashing around the room, adding to the ambiance. There were balloons, streamers, and glow sticks everywhere as well as coating the tables that ran along the perimeter of the room. The dance floor was already crowded; bodies swayed back and forth, arms waved to the rhythm, hearts beating at a rapid pace. "Hey," he turned to the others as they looked around the dance club, grabbing their attention. "We should find a table!" He called loudly, so he could be heard over the music. "So we can put our stuff down and we can keep a place to sit when we get tired."

"Good idea," Jo grabbed her coat and shoved it into Logan's arms. "You boys find a table, us girls will go dance!" She, Camille, Stephanie, Riley, Rhuben, Katie, and Lizzie hurried away from them before they could say anything in reply, getting on the dance floor as soon as Cascada's _Everytime We Touch _came out of the speakers that were mounted around the room.

"Wait up!" Sydney called and he, Patrick, and Noah followed them onto the dance floor. The others, who weren't as comfortable dancing in front of a bunch of people (and potentially being laughed at) hung back with their jackets.

"How did I _not_ see that coming?" WayneWayne asked as he scratched the back of his head.

"Ah, let's just give them their fun for now," Kendall stated as he turned and placed their abandoned bags and coats on a nearby table before sliding into one of the chairs. "Just be glad that we're not actually carrying their bags for them."

"Just be glad that none of us are on a date," Dak replied as he sat down as well. He laced his fingers and rested his elbows on the table. "That would be more trouble than it's worth." Logan shot him an odd look that Dak missed, and he just shrugged and looked around.

Logan couldn't help but smile as he and the other guys watched the girls dance. It was obvious that they were having a good time. They blended in with the rest of the dance floor pretty quickly, moving along with the beat of the music, their hands swaying over their heads and their feet moving along with the rhythm. His smile widened as he watched the Jacksons dance, smooth and fluid. Just like when they were working on their music or choreographed dance routines, they looked like they were having the time of their life, and it was then that Logan realized that any kind of music did that for them. Even if they were just listening to their mp3 players, they got really into it and became more…alive.

He continued to watch them, it was obvious that Rhuben was the better dancer out of them, not even having to try to make her moves look good, and to some degree he knew that she knew it. Not from the way that she got praise from it all time, not even from being the choreographer of her own band and his band, but from the tiny smile on her face. Modest and Proud at the same time. She looked up and caught his eye, giving a smile, causing Logan to give a short wave in response. His attention was averted over to Katie and Lizzie, who were then talking to two random teenage guys that had walked over to them. He reached over and nudged Kendall, pointing.

Kendall looked over and his hands clenched into fists, obviously wonder if he should do something or just leave it alone. Finally, his shoulders slumped and he looked over at Dak, pointing onto the dance floor. "I blame you." He stated shortly.

Dak followed his gaze and rolled his eyes, rubbing his forehead. "You're acting like I don't already have to deal with that myself," he stated, turning to Kendall. "Join the club."

"Never in my life have I been gladder to be an only child." Carlos stated with a shake of his head.

"I hear ya," Logan agreed.

"Well," James pushed his chair back and got to his feet. He smoothed his hands over his hair and checked his clothes before grinning at the boys that looked back an up at him. "I don't know about you, but I'm going to go shake my groove thing."

Kendall, Carlos, Logan, Dak, and WayneWayne burst out laughing at James words as he sauntered off onto the dance floor, talking to a few girls as he went. "I'm sorry," WayneWayne wiped some tears from his eyes. "Did he _really_ just say that?"

"Yes, he _really _just said that," Dak said with a nod, shaking his head. "I have to admit, the man has a great amount of self-esteem."

"Just wait until you spend every waking minute with him," Kendall deadpanned. He looked up as Camille hurried over to their table.

"Come on guys, a club is for dancing, come dance with us!" She turned to WayneWayne at the guys' hesitation. "Wally, please?" She clasped her hands together, holding them under her chin as she looked at her best friend, whom she had worked with on Magic Middle School.

"You know I don't dance well, Cammie," WayneWayne stalled.

Logan winced as she turned to him, knowing that he was going to give-in as soon as she looked at him. He hated it whenever a girl, it didn't matter who, asked him to do something. Because of his very polite upbringing by his mother, had had a hard time saying 'no' to anyone. But as his mother taught him to be extra polite to females, it just made it worse.

"Logan?" Camille asked.

He knew he was a goner as soon as their eyes met. "Fine," he said and got up from his seat, before being practically flung across the dance floor by Camille. He stumbled back and crashed into a tall teenage guy behind him.

"Hey, watch it!" The boy cried as he turned around. "Jett doesn't like it when he's jostled." He brushed off his clothes as Jo and Camille appeared at Logan's sides. He peered hard at Logan. "Hey, I think I know you. You're…that Logan guy from Big Time Rush right? Jett." He held out his hand and pulled it away before Logan could even think of shaking it. "But you already know me."

"Yeah, you're from that one show." Logan replied slowly.

"New Town High," Jo spoke up, placing her hand on her hip. "I got a script sent to me for it for an audition; I don't know if I'm going to take it though."

"Oh," Jett turned his attention to her. "But you should, it's a good role, good show, good times." His smile widened. "If you want to have a good time tonight, just let me know." He closed his hand into a fist, stuck his thumb and pinkie finger out, and then tilted his hand towards his mouth. "If you know what I mean."

"Sure," Camille replied slowly, grabbing onto Logan's arm once more. "Logan, come on, dance with me!" She shot Jett another look before they moved over to their friends and started to dance. Logan did the best he could, but he couldn't help but feel self-conscious whenever he looked around at his friends dancing with him. He looked over at James and spotted him grinding with a random brunette and couldn't help but roll his eyes.

_He couldn't have insecurities at least __once__ in his life, could he? _He thought to himself, looking over at Kendall, Carlos, Dak, and WayneWayne. They were all dancing in a circle with Riley, Rhuben, Jo, Camille, Stephanie, Sydney, and himself. The guys (minus Sydney) weren't doing great either, but at least they looked like they were having fun. _Relax Logan, just loosen up. They said that they have Gustavo taken care of, take a risk for once._

They were at the club for about two hours before Logan started to feel weird. He wasn't sure what it was, he couldn't put his finger on it, but something was off, he felt an air of tension around the room, radiating from his friends. As he took a break from dancing and was talking to Carlos and James, he scanned the club once more. He quickly found out why he had an odd feeling; he spotted Jo talking with Jett. But he seemed to be bugging her, as she wasn't smiling. He leaned forward closer to her and said something else that caused her to frown, take a step back, and hit him across the face, and stormed off.

"Uh," Logan turned to James. "I'll be back in a minute." Logan placed his cup of soda on the table and pushed his way through the crowd, hurrying after her. He didn't think any of their other friends had seen what was going on and he wanted to make sure that she was ok.

As he slowly made his way through the large crowd, he began to feel as if he was being watched. He stopped in his tracks and looked around, searching the faces of the people encircling his. No one was looking his way. In fact, they all seemed to be looking in exactly the opposite direction. Just as quickly as it had enveloped him, the suspicion dissipated. Mentally nudging himself to keep moving, he sped up my pace to catch up with Jo.

"Jo, are you ok?" He asked, grabbing onto her arm and gently turned her to face him. His anxiety rose even higher as he peered at her face. It was obvious that she was trying her hardest not to cry.

"I don't want to talk about it, Logan." Jo said as she crossed her arms over her chest, looking at the floor. "I just want to leave."

"Ok," Logan nodded, not wanting to push her even further. "Let's just get everyone else and we can go." He looked up as Kendall walked by them, his head moving back and forth as if he was looking for someone. "Kendall!" He called him over.

"Hey, have you guys seen Katie?" Kendall asked, looking concerned. "She was just with Lizzie, Patrick, and Noah, but she just disappeared somewhere."

"I saw her heading out into the hallway," Jo replied pointing over her shoulder. "Probably went to the bathroom."

"Hey," Logan looked over at Kendall. "Jo wants to leave, so we'll go tell the others what's going on and then we'll go with you to find Katie."

Kendall looked over at Jo, and he must have seen something in her expression as he didn't pressure her to talk to him, like he would have done for anyone else. He just nodded and waited as Logan gathered everyone up and told them to wait at the entrance of the club and they went to go find Katie. _I hope she's ok, _Logan could practically feel Kendall's anxiety radiating off of him. _There are always a lot of weird people at these things. She's a tough girl, but you never know._

"So, Logan, I see that you've finally managed to take a risk and actually be cool about it for once," Kendall said with a wide smile as he reached out and nudged Logan on the arm. Logan gave a smile in return. "That's good. Maybe you can-"He suddenly stopped walking and stared down the hallway. His mouth dropped open in shock.

Logan and Jo exchanged glances before following his gaze as well. Logan's mouth dropped open as well, but then he quickly closed it. He lightly cleared his throat and rubbed the back of his neck when he realized what he was looking at. Slightly further down the hallway, a girl and boy were sitting on the floor, obviously making out from the way their heads were bobbing back and forth. But what caused them to stare was the fact that the girl that was making out was Katie. They easily recognized her jumper as well as the way that the girls styled her hair. Logan's eyes shifted from Katie to Kendall a few times and he cleared his throat even louder.

"Katie!" Kendall finally snapped, grabbing her attention. His eyes narrowed as she pulled back and saw that she had been making out with the random boy that she had been talking to earlier, who just looked back at him calmly. "What are you doing?" He glared at the two of them, placing his hands on his hips.

"Nothing," Katie replied defensively as she and the boy got to their feet. She looked completely embarrassed, and to Logan's slight amusement, the boy looked like he was bored. He looked back and forth between the two siblings, keeping quiet. "What are you doing?"

Logan decided to jump in, trying to keep Kendall from flying off the handle. "We came out here to find you; the others are waiting at the entrance. Uh," he rubbed the back of his neck, risking a glance over at Jo. "Something happened with Jo and-"

"And I _don't _want to talk about it!" Jo interrupted, sounding distressed as she brushed her hair off of her forehead. She looked over her shoulder, as if making sure someone didn't sneak up on her. "Can we just go now, _please_?"

"Are you sure you're ok, Jo?" Katie finally spoke to her, looking concerned.

"I'm fine, let's just go!" Jo grabbed onto Kendall's arm, lightly tugging him away.

"Alright," Kendall said with a sigh, waiting a bit to make sure that the others were following him. He looked down at Katie, who continued to avoid his gaze, now looking even more embarrassed as well as angry. "But we're going to talk about this later."

"Whatever." Katie replied shortly.

Logan smiled in amusement and shook his head as he followed them out towards the entrance of the club to meet up with their friends. Even though the night seemed to have ended oddly (which he was sure that he was going to hear everything about later) he still had a pretty good time. _But of course, tonight's events are just going to bring up some later drama. I just know it._

They don't call him the smart one for nothing…

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **Bit of a long chapter here, whew**. **I had the idea of them going to a teen/kids club for a while and I'm glad that I finally brought it up. I think it's a good way to start some drama with everyone and I hope that I did a good job with it. (I tried to show a little bit of everyone, but that may not have gone over too well). Can you guess the song I referenced in this chapter? (Every time I ask that, it will always be a BTR song that I'm referencing to, just so it's not too ambiguous). A few plot points/story lines for some characters were referenced to/foreshadowed in this chapter as well, so I hope you caught that.

Let me know what you think of this chapter, I thought that the pacing was off and that there were some things that I think I started talking about but didn't finish. So please, let me know if you catch something so I can go back and fix it later.

I know that a lot of people like it that Kendall and Katie don't fight on the show, but I don't think that's realistic at all, as all siblings fight, so I thought of a reason here why they would do it, as I showed a bit of them fighting in _Darkness Of My Past, _I figured that I would go a bit more into it in this story. For the Jacksons, it's a different problem that I haven't really gone into before, but have mentioned a few times, that will be shown soon.

Like I said before, this story references real life events, so it's a mixture of the idea I originally had for this as well as my other story _Teenage Kicks _(which I'm no longer going to do) so just keep that in mind. I hope you guys like the chapter, I'll update again soon.

Also, you'll see more of the adults in the next chapter.

Thanks to **Baxxie,** **MysticMelody101, BTR-Fan-4Lyfe, youspinmelikearecord, shotinthedark, Got2LiveItBigTime, DarkElement-Jackson-Fan, Lella-Kiley-Luvr, LogieLuvr914, BigTimeFan-'10, Rage-Against-Time, and BigTimeRush-DarkElements-Fan** for reviewing.

Cheers,

-Riles


	4. Secret

**Chapter Four: Secret**

* * *

><p>"Ugh, Kendall, <em>leave me alone<em>!" Katie snapped loudly.

"Not until we talk about this!" Kendall shot back, just as frustrated. "What were you doing with that guy last night?"

"I think you got a good eyeful, since you were spying on me!"

"I wasn't _spying_ on you, I went to look for you and I found you. What are you doing?"

"Going to meet Lizzie and go to the mall."

"Don't walk away from me when I'm talking to you."

"I can do whatever I want; you're not my dad, Kendall!"

Carlos winced as the front door to the apartment slammed shut. Moments later he could hear the TV turn on and stats from a recent football game blaring from the TV. Carlos sighed and looked over at the door to his room. It was closed and he could still hear Kendall's and Katie's fight loud and clear. When they had gotten back from the club, two days ago, Kendall had announced to James and Carlos, what he and Logan had seen Katie doing. Being a really close friend of Katie's, Carlos had to admit that he felt over-protective as soon as he heard about it. But then he quickly let it go, knowing it wasn't his problem. He wasn't really Katie's big brother, even though he felt like it, and he knew that Kendall was going to handle it the best way he could.

But of course, that just meant that Kendall went flying into over-protective-big-brother-mode and the two have been fighting on and off about it. Every now and then Kendall would stop talking about it and they would return to the friendship/relationship that every other set of siblings was jealous about. But then Kendall would bring it up again and things would get worse. It was especially weird, because the two never fought about anything. Even Mrs. Knight couldn't get them to stop.

"They're still fighting?" Carlos turned his attention back to his computer screen, where Stephanie King's face was on-screen. Carlos nodded and she shook her head. "I don't think I've ever seen them fight this long. I mean," she brushed her hair out of her face. "I haven't known them as long as you have, but they always seem to be getting along."

"They usually are," Carlos agreed with a short nod. "I just think that Kendall's a bit shocked that she would do that…but I also don't think she realizes that she's growing up." He crossed his arms over his chest, tilting his head back against his headboard. "What are you doing tonight? Gustavo says he doesn't want to see our faces until we pick a genre for our CD, so I can pick you up and we can go out."

"Nothing," Stephanie hesitated. "But do you think it's a good idea?"

Carlos' eyebrows raised. "You're my girlfriend, I think asking you out on a date is a good idea."

Stephanie gave him a sharp look. "You know what I mean." She said seriously.

And he did know what she meant. Ever since the two started dating, he had asked her out after their dance at the Palm Woods the year before, Carlos and Stephanie (under the instruction of Gustavo) were told to keep their relationship a secret and for Carlos to continue saying in interviews that he was single. It was frustrating for both of them; they couldn't go out on public dates as much as they wanted because of the rumors (although they would be true) flying around, and because no one would stay out of their business. But the blessing was that they were able to, for the most part, throw the public off by hanging out with their friends, which they did on a daily basis as it was.

But that doesn't stop the fans from doing or saying whatever they want. In fan-mail, on MyFace (for those that could find their profiles) as well as on ScuttleButter, Carlos got sent a lot of hate from fans saying that he shouldn't be with Stephanie (even though it wasn't confirmed). Stephanie got the worse of it, for the most part fans were supportive, didn't care, or didn't acknowledge that she was potentially dating Carlos. But when she got death-threats, they were particularly nasty.

"Did you get some more?" He asked gently.

"Yeah," Stephanie rolled her eyes. "Just check my mentions on ScuttleButter."

Carlos minimized his video chat window and opened up an internet browser. He logged into his ScuttleButter account and searched through Stephanie's mentions, shaking his head as he read a few of them.

**KellyQueen : ~Stephie** You don't deserve to be dating Carlos, you should just jump off a cliff! Better yet, I'll push you off, myself.

**BTCrushLuv : ~Stephie** you are stupid believed carlos is mine and you will never whant it to little girl believed only by those whit the gain fam

**LuvCGLuvKK : ~Stephie** you do not stay behind us we took from bony damn carlos wants you not even your father nor your mother a bitch that brought you for anything you can think carlos hurt huh bitch fucking asshole bony finger metete

"Ok, well," Carlos minimized the web browser and brought up his video chat again, seeing Stephanie texting on her phone. "That last one doesn't even make sense." He thought for a moment. "Better yet, the second one doesn't make any sense either."

"It doesn't make me feel any better," Stephanie mumbled. She brought her hair behind her into a ponytail and dropped it over her shoulders. "I don't know, I think we should cool it in public for a while, just to make sure that things don't get out of hand."

Carlos' shoulders shrugged in disappointment. Having worked all summer, and then starting up a new CD, he hadn't been able to spend as much time along with Stephanie as he wanted. But they both knew that it was part of his job and that things would probably get better soon. It was still hard though, and it put a lot of pressure on their relationship.

"I guess you're right." Carlos replied. He rubbed his forehead. "Are you guys going over to Ronan's place for dinner tonight?"

"I think so," Stephanie reached over and grabbed onto a sheet of paper, which Carlos knew was her schedule. She had been getting a lot of jobs for her cinematography for commercials lately, so she was starting to become as busy as he was. "What's it for again?"

"Ronan invited us all over so we could have one last night of fun before we all start working on our CDs." Carlos grinned and rubbed his hands together. "Free food and a chance to hang out in his apartment." He made a face. "Come to think of it, I don't think we've ever been there. They've always came here."

"Well, you know they like their privacy," Stephanie shrugged. She looked up from her sheet of paper. "Yep, us girls, Dak, and WayneWayne are going tonight." She paused and then looked Carlos right in the eye. "Don't bother asking me about Jo, because I don't know what happened. Camille doesn't either."

Carlos shrugged, trying to push his sense of worry away. They all knew that something had happened with Jo and Jett, but she was refusing to say anything .And if the girls didn't know, then she was definitely keeping quiet.

"Ah, I'm sure we'll get it out of her later," Carlos said with a wave of his hand. He looked at his watch. "Oh, I gotta get going. I'll see you later."

"Alright," Stephanie smiled. "Love you."

"Love you, too." Carlos replied and blew a kiss before closing the lid to his laptop. He slid off of his bed and walked over to the couch, noticing that Logan and James had joined them as they were watching Paranormal Activity. "Oh," he stopped in his tracks. "You're watching this?" He asked as he slowly lowered himself onto the couch.

Logan turned and shot him a smirk. "It's ok if you're scared, Carlos." He said in a reassuring way, that was also tinged with snark.

It was no secret that Carlos was the one that got the most scared whenever they watched horror films. They had watched Nightmare on Elm Street once, and for two months, he had refused to go to sleep by himself. So the guys had to take turns sharing their beds with Carlos, although if you asked them that directly, they would vehemently deny it.

Carlos stuck his tongue out at Logan as he grabbed his helmet and jammed it onto his head. _It's ok Carlos, it's just a movie. It's fake, these things can't happen. _He told himself over and over as he watched the movie with his friends. He brought his arms around his knees, bringing his knees to his chest as the movie continued to progress. He jumped every now and then, causing the other guys to laugh. But he hadn't completely freaked out yet.

"Hey guys," Mrs. Knight greeted as she walked into the apartment, dropping her purse onto the hook beside the door. "Have you see-"

She stopped and let out a high-pitched shriek as Carlos screamed loudly. He leapt off of the couch and hurled himself up the swirly slide, screaming the whole way. Kendall, Logan, and James just laughed, high-fiving each other as Kacy placed a hand on her chest, trying to calm herself down.

"What was that about?" she gasped, turning to her son.

"We were watching Paranormal Activity, mom," Kendall replied with a grin as he picked up the remote and paused the movie. He got off of the couch and walked over to his mother, greeting her with a kiss on the cheek. "And Carlos got a wittle scared." He added, sticking out his lower lip.

Kacy laughed and swatted her son on the arm. "As long as no one's getting murdered." She replied. "Has anyone seen Katie? She's not answering her phone."

"She's at the mall with Lizzie," James supplied. "And you know the mall gets like no reception." He added.

"Right," Kacy nodded. "We're going to be leaving for the Jacksons' apartment soon." She added and grabbed her phone from her pocket. "I'm just going to tell Ronan and tell him that we're on our way."

"You might want to hold off on that, Mama Knight." Logan stated as he got up from the couch as well, crossing his arms over his chest. He then tilted his head towards the swirly slide. "You know, until we can scrape him off of the slide."

* * *

><p><em>Honk honk!<em>

Carlos turned around as he closed the door to Mrs. Knight's rental car and waved as Dak's truck and Camille's Mazda pulled into the few parking spaces that were open to Ronan's apartment building. "Hey!" He waved before walking over to Stephanie and giving her a kiss in greeting. "Hey guys," he added, giving Jo, Camille, and Lizzie a hug as well.

"Hey, thanks for giving Katie a ride over here," Kendall said as he slapped Dak on the shoulder. He looked over at his sister, who was walking to Lizzie and James about something. "Something tells me that she would have bitten off my head if I told her to come home."

"Little sisters can be pains like that, can't they?" Dak replied with a half-smile as he placed his keys in his pocket. He then gave Kendall a seriously look. "It was no problem at all, I'd be glad to give her a ride back if she needs it."

"Wow, this building is bigger than I thought." WayneWayne commented as he tilted his head back and shielded his face from the sun as he gazed at the tall building. "I bet it's really cool on the inside."

"We wouldn't know," Logan stated with a simple shrug, sliding his hands into his jeans pockets. "We've never been in."

"You haven't?" Dak's eyes widened slightly and then he became slightly self-conscious as all eyes turned towards him. He left out a soft chuckle and waved a hand. "Oh, the novelty wears off pretty fast. It's cool though." He nodded like a bobble head.

"I'm sure it is cool," Logan agreed. "But I guess that you're used to things like this."

Dak looked back at him. "Sorry, I forgot how…overwhelming these things can be, especially since you've only been here for about a year."

Carlos raised his eyebrows and turned to look at Stephanie who was looking back at him. He could tell by looking her in the eye that they were probably thinking the same thing. _What's up with them? _Basically ever since Dak and Logan had met, they were friends, but they were always so guarded around each other. Always speaking in cool tones with each other, or hiding little jabs of insults in everything that they said. But if you asked them, they would still say that they were friends. It was really weird.

_And confusing. _Carlos added to himself, then looking over at Kendall, and James, who noticed their odd behavior as well.

"Well," Kacy shifted the pie that was in her hands. "Let's go up and have some dinner, shall we?" She led the way into the apartment and into the elevator. "Which floor?" She asked, moving the pie to one hand as she reached out towards the panel with the other.

"Top floor," Jo supplied as she stepped forward and pressed the button for her. "It must be a good view." She mused after a second.

"That's the best thing about LA," James said and then ran his fingers through his hair. "Besides me of course," he added, causing everyone else to roll their eyes. They were used to his 'all-about-me' antics, but it quickly got annoying. "You can find a good view anywhere. And it'll be even better when I'm in it." He raised his arms and kissed his biceps.

"You know, I didn't think it was possible," Lizzie remarked as she slowly rubbed her chin. "But I think his muscles are bigger than his head.

"It doesn't surprise me," Camille stated simple, resting her hands on her hips. "It just brings an all new definition to the term meat-head." She laughed as James shot her a hurt look and reached out, patting his shoulder. "I'm kidding, James."

"I wouldn't be." Kendall snorted.

Kacy laughed and pushed her hair out of her face. They rode the elevator to the top floor and then navigated their way to Ronan's apartment, hearing loud laughter and some shouts. Figuring that it was the last one, Kacy walked over and rang the doorbell on the outside before knocking loudly on the door, taking a step back as she waited. They heard rapid footsteps pounding on the floor behind the door before the door handle twisted down.

"Hi," Sydney greeted with a wide smile, just as Ronan appeared behind him.

"Hey guys, glad you could make it." Ronan flashed his pearly whites as he took a step back, allowing everyone to go inside. "Come on in, you can just leave your shoes by the door."

"WHEN'S DINNER? I'M HUNGRY!"

Ronan winced and rolled his eyes as he closed the door behind him. "As you can _hear_ Gustavo and Kelly are here already. They're out on the porch balcony thing." He turned an spread his arms wide. "So, this is the place."

"You guys kept calling it an apartment," Katie commented as she turned to Sydney, who looked just as proud as Ronan did. "But this is like a penthouse. It probably takes up the whole top floor."

"About half of it actually," Sydney corrected. He then shrugged. "I don't know, it didn't seem much different to me." He rubbed the back of his neck. "It's too big if you ask me, but the apartment building basically gave it to Ronan as soon as he opened Blazing Phoenix and they basically won't let him move out."

"He's not kidding," Ronan added after a second. "They won't let me move out."

"Then how about I rent it from you?" Katie asked with an eager grin. "It's a really nice place you got."

"Yeah, like your allowance will be able to pay for that." Kendall commented as he walked over to a one of the large bay windows and looked out, down on the city.

"Thanks Katie," Ronan smiled at the young girl and then pointed behind him. "Anyway, over there is the bathroom," he pointed the other way. "The bedrooms are back there," he then gestured around the apartment. "Over there is the kitchen, that's the sitting area that we have when we're writing songs and stuff, that's the laundry room, and that's the den." He pointed over to where, Riley, Rhuben, Patrick, and Noah were playing a video game, yelling at the TV so loudly they didn't notice their friends come in.

"Guys," Sydney broke away from Ronan's side and scurried over to his brothers and sisters, launching himself onto Patrick's back. Sydney ignored his shout of pain, gripping onto Patrick's head so he wouldn't be flung off of his back. "Our friends are here."

Riley quickly paused the game and they all went to say 'hi' to their friends as Ronan turned to Kacy. "Oh, you brought a pie?" He looked surprised.

"Well, you guys always bring something over when you come to dinner." She stated as he took it from her hand and walked over to the kitchen to put it into the refrigerator. "I figured I'd return the favor." She peered at his face. "Is something wrong?"

"No," Ronan shook his head as he opened the refrigerator door wide, so she could see inside it. "Not unless you don't mind eating more desert than you can look at." He jumped as he heard something crashing and then closed the refrigerator door, seeing that he had knocked a vase over. "Woops." He quickly gabbed the pieces and dumped them into a trash can.

"What was that?" Patrick asked, leaning back in his chair to see Ronan dropping something into the wastebasket.

Ronan looked up, seeing that he was being addressed and gave a short smile. "That was me," He replied and waved a hand when he noticed that everyone was looking at him oddly. "Sorry. I knocked over a vase."

Riley cracked her knuckles and let out a short chuckle. "Oh, ok I thought that you—"

"slipped on water and fell onto the floor." Riley and Rhuben chorused. They blinked and looked around as everyone in the room turned to look at them. Ronan, Patrick, Noah, and Sydney, who were used it, were smiling in amusement, while their friends looked at them in disbelief.

"Stop staring at us." Rhuben stated, crossing her arms over her chest. "You're looking at us like that woman at the restaurant last night."

Riley sat up on the couch, crossing her legs as she turned to face her twin. "Oh, you mean that girl with the—" She made a vague gesture to the sides of her head, moving it down to her collarbone.

Rhuben snapped her fingers and then nodded. "Yeah, and she always—"She started to make a flapping motion with her arms, causing the two girls to start laughing.

"Yeah, and she can't go without—"

"—her special eyebrow pencil because she—"

"Yeah, and she—"

"Yeah, and the—"

Rhuben nodded in confirmation as she leaned back against the chair. "Yep, that's her." She looked around, a somewhat irritated look suddenly coming onto her face. "What?" She snapped at the stares.

Being twins, it was really easy for Riley and Rhuben, even for Patrick and Noah, to figure out what the other person was thinking of without the other even having to say anything. Numerous times one of them suddenly started talking, as if the other had asked a question out loud, although the other hadn't said anything at all. And the fact that they could finish each other's sentences without having to think about it and constantly say things in unison, it can scare and amuse so many people. They think it's funny, but having so much attention on them when it happens, as the Jackson(-McGuires) don't _like_ having a lot of attention on them, it makes them uncomfortable.

"How do you do that?" WayneWayne asked, his mouth hanging open, looking completely stupefied.

"Years of practice." Riley and Rhuben chorused nonchalantly.

"STOP DOING THAT!" Carlos screamed as he slapped his hands over his ears.

"Ok, this is actually getting—"

"Creepy?" Riley guessed.

"Yeah." Rhuben nodded.

"You two scare me." Jo commented as she shook her head. "I mean, most times it's cute. You can just look at each other, like a mirror, and figure out whether or not something looks good on you. But you doing that, really creeps me out."

"Ugh," Riley made a face as her shoulders moved up close to her ears. "I _hate _being called cute." She smiled as Sydney chimed in saying that he liked being called cute.

"Why?" WayneWayne asked as he allowed Camille to take the last spot on the couch before sitting down on the floor, crossing one leg over the other. "It's true." He made a face as Kendall accidentally kicked him in the ankle, stepping over him to get some space on the floor. Noah grabbed his controller and started the game up again.

"Thanks for that," Rhuben commented with a half smile, tucking her hair behind her ears. She sat back down in the chair that she and Riley were squeezed into her, keeping her eyes on the video game, making sure she didn't lose her concentration. "I don't know, we just never really liked the word."

"Cute or not, it's still creepy." Jo continued as she carefully placed her purse on the ground.

"You're welcome." The twin girls chorused once more.

Patrick's eyes suddenly lid up as he turned to Noah, his sudden movement catching his twin's attention. "This reminds me of that time that we—"

Noah smiled as well. "Yeah, I remember we kept on—"

"Yeah, and Ronan had to come in to make us shut up and—"

"We wound up grounded?"

"Good times." Patrick and Noah sighed in unison, causing their friends to burst out laughing as Carlos let out an even louder scream them before and press his hands to the sides of his ears even harder.

Ronan gave a sarcastic laugh before he took a sip of beer. "Good times for you, maybe." Ronan stated as he put up the broom. "You guys have fun; dinner'll be ready in about an hour or so." He held an arm out and allowed Kacy to move by him before he followed her out onto the patio to join Gustavo and Kelly.

Carlos let out a heavy sigh as he flopped onto an empty couch, resting an arm behind his head. Stephanie sat down beside him and snuggled up against his side.

"Something wrong?" she asked.

"Not at all."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **Alright, I wanted some drama to start, as well as some things to be explained/shown before they officially start on music and everything. Did you catch some of the subtle drama hints in this chapter? So the next chapter will specifically start when they're all starting to write/record their CDs and stuff. I know I said that you would see a bit more of the adults in this chapter, but I think it's better if I make it that they have a big part in the next one rather than try to squeeze them in here.

What did you think about this chapter? I wanted to show more of Riley's and Rhuben's friendship/sistership as I show it with Patrick and Noah a lot more. They will be explained more later on. So, like I said earlier, I'm putting real events in this story, so that's why I brought up the whole thing with Carlos and Stephanie dating, but having to keep it a secret, even though they've been there for a while. As well as Stephanie getting some hate for it, because that's what happened with Carlos and Sammy in real life. Oh, and so everyone knows, there's going to be some Racy in this story as well.

Also, since ScuttleButter is basically a parody of Twitter, I made it that they have that squiggly line thing as a mention tag instead of the 'at' symbol. Also...I don't think the 'at' symbol shows up on here. IDK. Also, those are real tweets that were sent to Sammy Droke. If any of those are yours, please let me know and I'll take them off/down. The names of the people sending the tweets/scuttbutts are fake though.

Thanks to **MysticMelody101, BTR-Fan-4Lyfe, youspinmelikearecord, shotinthedark, Got2LiveItBigTime, DarkElement-Jackson-Fan, Lella-Kiley-Luvr, LogieLuvr914, BigTimeFan-'10, Rage-Against-Time, and BigTimeRush-DarkElements-Fan** for reviewing.

Cheers,

-Riles

Cheers,

-Riles


	5. Exes

**Chapter Five: Exes**

* * *

><p>"Dogs, here's the sample of the music that you're going to be working with." Gustavo snapped as soon as Kendall, Logan, Carlos, and James walked through the doorway of his office. He grabbed them and shoved them in front of him before they walked to the recording studio.<p>

Gustavo plopped himself down into his chair and started to mess with some buttons and knobs on the switchboard. The boys took the chance to turn and look at Kelly, with questioning glances, and she just smiled and looked back at them.

"Trust him this time, guys," she said to them, trying to quench their doubts. "This is actually really good." She placed a hand on her chest, her smile widening. "Trust me, I've listened to the sample already and I think that you guys are going to really love it."

"Well if _you_ love it, then it must be ok." James commented as his cell phone let out a song, letting him know he got a text. He pulled it out, his eyebrows rising with surprise when he saw who it was, and then opened it to read the text. His face clouded with confusion, and he shoved it into his pocket, not bothering to touch it again.

"Who was that?" Logan asked him, curiously.

"No one," James replied with a shrug. "It was just a random number."

"You had a pretty weird expression on your face, dude," Kendall laughed, placing a hand on James' shoulder. "It must have been a strange text."

"DOGS!"

Gustavo waited until he had their undivided attention before pushing another button on the switchboard. He leaned back in his seat, crossing his arms over his chest as the boys listened to it. They held expressions of mild surprise as they nodded along to the beat of the song, looking at each other. It was poppy, just like their last CD was, but the song seemed to be more sophisticated; like it was accompanying the thought that BTR was growing up and was trying to change their style. It suited them perfectly.

Satisfied, Gustavo reached out and pushed a button on the switchboard, cutting the music off once again. "Well?" He asked, holding his arms out, waiting for the praise.

"Gustavo, it's great!" Kendall replied, sounding completely surprised. He couldn't fight the smile that worked its way onto his face. "Really." He held up his hands. "Like, really, really, great." Gustavo's eyes slowly narrowed into slits of suspicion. "How did you get it?"

"It was given to us since Hawk turned it down," Kelly explained, jumping in before Gustavo could snap at the four boys. "And this is apparently the beat to a song that Daft Punk used, but since Daft Punk songs are basically the same thing over and over again, they allowed the use of the song clip and turn it into a full song."

"So get started writing the lyrics for the song," Gustavo said, clapping his hands as he got up from the chair, a smug smile on his face. "While you're doing that, I'm going to start getting a team of writers together when you fail at writing this one." Kelly rolled her eyes, shaking her head at the boys, as she followed Gustavo out of the room.

"Well, if that isn't a vote of confidence, I don't know what is." Logan said sarcastically as he rolled his eyes. He bit his lower lip and turned to his friends, the worry evident on his face. "What if we can't do this?" He asked. "I mean, we basically tore each other limb from limb on the last song we wrote together."

"And because we're banned from the kitchen to get the tinfoil," Carlos broke in. "What are we going to do now?"

"The same thing we should have done the first time we wrote a song together," James commented. He paused and pulled his cell phone from his pocket as it buzzed again. He looked at the screen, frowned once more, and then shoved his phone back into his pocket. "Actually try to write one, instead of getting mad at each other."

"I don't know," Kendall mused, rubbing his chin. "Attacking each other with cymbals was fun."

"And expensive." Logan muttered.

After Gustavo had gotten over the fact that they had done a good job and had wrote a hit of a song that eventually got put onto the album, he was still mad over the fact that they had broken numerous pieces of furniture, punched holes in the wall, broke numerous sets of drum sticks, dented many cymbals, tore down a few doors, and had to pay the hospital bills for crushing the musicians Gustavo hired to help them record their music. And that was just the smallest bit of the damage they caused.

"Ok, how about," James paused as his phone buzzed again. "How about-"he made a grunting sound as it buzzed once more. "How about we play some foosball to take our mind off of it?" He suggested. "The last time we didn't actually think so hard about it, we got the rest of the song out pretty quickly."

"Good idea," Kendall agreed and led the way over to the foosball table. As he and Carlos started the game, Logan and James sat down on the couch, watching them play. James let out a disgruntled sigh as his phone buzzed two more times.

"Who's texting you, anyway?" Logan asked, looking over at him with raised eyebrows. "It must be important if they're trying to talk to you and you're not answering." He waited as James stayed silent, seemingly trying to figure out whether or not to say anything. "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to."

"It's not that…" James replied slowly.

"Is it your Mom and Dad?" Logan guessed.

James's face twitched. He would have probably exploded if it was his parents texting him at the same time. That would have meant that they were arguing over who he was going to stay with the next time that they were going to go back to Minnesota. It nearly killed him when he saw how much pain it caused each of them, even though he wasn't very fond of the way that they tried to deal with those things or the choices that they made in their lives. But they were his parents, so he couldn't help that. At least with that, he would know what to say to them.

"No," James shook his head. "Just…you know how some people from back home started to get in contact with us as soon as we went out to LA?" Logan nodded slowly. "You know the ones we hardly talked to, but suddenly started to talk to us? I'm dealing with one of those right now."

"Oh," Logan nodded sympathetically. "At least you know who your real friends are, because of it."

"Yeah," James gave a short smiled as he picked up his phone and looked over the five texts that he had received in the span of twenty minutes, before finally answering to them.

**James: Natalie, please stop texting me. We broke up, remember?**

**Natalie: Not exactly, James, we said that we were going to see how things went when you guys went out to LA**

**James: You haven't spoken to me ever since I came out here**

**Natalie: Why do **_**I **_**have to be the one that starts the conversations all the time? Why don't you ever text me?**

**James: I'm working. You know that. I'm living my dream.**

**Natalie: Well, my dream is to be with you. I miss what we had, James.**

**James: Right, I'm sure that's what you want. Natalie, I don't mean to sound rude, but you haven't talked to me for a little over a year**

**Natalie: So?**

**James: So, honestly, I think you're only using me for my fame. We've gotten really big in the past year and now all of a sudden you want to try and work things out?**

**Natalie: I can't believe you said that, James. I still care about you!**

**Natalie: Don't you care about me?**

**James: I do care about you, you know that. I just don't think now is the right time to have a girlfriend. I have so much work to do; I hardly have any time to even talk to my parents. (Individually of course). So what makes you think I can handle a long distance relationship at this time?**

**Natalie: I can come out to LA to see you and we can talk then. We have a break from school in a couple of weeks, I could come then.**

**James: Please, don't. I don't want you to go out of your way.**

James shook his head as he sent off that last text. It was annoying to him, how he could tell that she was only trying to use him to get into the spotlight, she had a dream of becoming big and famous like he did, although she wanted to be a model. So when it came time for him and the guys to leave for LA, James, not sure how to tell her that he wanted to break up, suggested that they take a break. Natalie didn't take it very well, and had even gone home crying, but she didn't talk to him for the whole time he had been gone, not even when he went back home during their tour over the summer, so he thought that she got what he wanted.

Obviously she didn't.

Now he wasn't sure what to say to her about it.

**Natalie: I won't be going out of my way, besides my parents will pay for it. I can't wait to see you! :) Well, I have to go to sleep, school in the morning. See you soon, James. ;)**

James sighed as he put his cell phone back into his jeans pocket. But not before blocking Natalie's numbers from his phone. _It might be harsh, but at least she'll get the point now, _James reassured himself as a feeling of guilt rushed through his body.

"James, are you coming?" Logan called. James looked up and noticed that Kendall and Carlos were sitting on the couch next to him now. Carlos had a large grin on his face, and Kendall was pouting, his arms crossed over his chest. That only meant that Kendall lost. It wasn't a good thing, because that meant he was going to be moping for the rest of the day, as he hated to lose. Logan waved his hand when he got James' attention. "It's our turn!"

James tilted his head back so it rested on the back of the couch, as he thought about the whole situation. Natalie was either going to go to LA anyway just to talk to him, and eventually make things awkward with his friends, or she was going to take the hint and leave him alone. But that just meant that he was going to potentially break her heart, especially since he couldn't even break up with her face-to-face.

What kind of a coward does that?

Suddenly, a lyric flashed into his head: _I need to write this down; the words just won't come out. It's hard to say how you feel._

"Coming!" James called back after a second. _That was good; I need to remember to write that down somewhere._

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **Sorry this is a short chapter compared to the others, I just wanted to show how they first get a sample of the song, and then the other chapters show how they go along with recording it and everything. Plus, the idea I had for James' drama starts here. I said that it would have a lot of the adults in this chapter, but I think it's better if they're shown in the next chapter, so I could focus on their starting to write the song in this chapter.

I hope you guys liked this chapter and I'll update again soon.

Cheers,

-Riles


	6. Oh's

**Chapter Six: Oh's**

* * *

><p>"Maybe we should try putting a hook there?" Logan suggested as he tapped his pencil on a pad of paper that was sitting in front of him, Kendall, and James. "I mean," he reached up and scratched his forehead with the eraser. "It doesn't really matter, since all we have so far is one verse…" He looked over at Carlos, who was sitting on the couch, his knees drawn up, and spitting his gum out of his mouth towards the ceiling, and catching it again. "Hey, we could use some help here!" He snapped.<p>

"It seems to me that you guys are doing a great job without me," Carlos replied, spinning his helmet between his hands.

Kendal leaned over the arm of the couch and dragged Carlos into an upright position. He gave the normally-helmet-clad-boy a stern look as he grabbed his pack of gum away from him. "We're supposed to be working on this together, I'll duct tape you to a chair if that's what it'll take to get this done."

"Oh," Carlos smiled. "That might be cool."

Kendall, Logan and James all rolled their eyes and went back to work. So far, in the three and a half of the four hours that they spend at Rocque Records every day, they had only come up with James' original line, and then had expanded on it: _I tried to write this down The words just don't come out It's hard to say how you feel Been down the longest road Said yes when I meant no I lost control of the wheel. _They were currently drawing a blank for the rest of it, and it wasn't helping that they would continuously play the sound clip over and over again.

It was like it was taunting them.

"Hey." The boys looked up to see the Jacksons walking over with backpack on their backs. Well, Patrick was dragging his along the ground behind him, not caring as it bumped along the ground, flipping back and forth. Once he reached them, he picked it up and chucked it across the room before jumping onto the couch next to Carlos. "What's up?"

"We started working on our first song, today," James said as he made room on another couch for Riley and Rhuben to sit down. Riley gave him a short smile before sitting down, Rhuben perching on the arm rest. "_Started_ being the keyword there."

"Yeah, I caught that," Rhuben nodded slowly. "Don't get discouraged though, it can take a while to write a song."

"Best thing you can do is try not to force it," Sydney suggested, from where he was sitting on the floor, his legs crossed Indian style. He had a notebook on his lap and a text book out on the floor, having started his homework. "It'll just make you pissed off."

"We'll keep that in mind," Kendall rubbed his eyes as he leaned back. He ran a hand down his face and looked at his friends. "What about you guys? Have you started working on your new CD yet? And what about your last two CDs?"

Noah scratched the back of his neck as he thought for a minute. "We won't know about _DarkElements_ or _Two Close For Comfort _until next week at the earliest." He lowered his arm and cross them over his chest. "But to answer your other question, yeah, we started the preliminary stuff on our CD today."

"So cool," Carlos grinned at his friends as he pushed his helmet back onto his head. "It'll be fun working on music with you guys again." He looked like a little kid as he placed his hands into his lap. "I missed doing that; we had too much time off." His smile widened as the Jacksons shook their heads. But they were used to it, having worked with him for the past year as well as slowly became his friend. "What have you gotten done on it so far?"

"We're making it a deluxe CD," Riley explained, kicking off her flip-flops and bringing her legs underneath her on the couch. "We knew that we wanted to do that for a long time and we finally got Ronan to agree with it." She cracked her knuckles before putting her hands in her lap. "We're calling it Black and White." Her hands started to repeatedly close into fists and open.

Logan blinked and exchanged glances with Kendall, James, and Carlos; they looked at stumped as he did. From experience, he knew that they titled their CDs from a single on that CD, and from what they feel at the time. So Black and White was kind of ambiguous, it could mean anything. He had a few guesses, but he wasn't sure if he was going to be right, very wrong, or manage to insult them without meaning to.

"Careful, your brain might explode from thinking too hard." Patrick commented dryly, lightly pulling on his lower lip. Noah reached out and hit him on the arm, Patrick shrugged in reply.

"Basically," Sydney came to their rescue, a somewhat arrogant smile on his face. "It represents our life now," he held up his two hands as if they were scales. "Black," he rose his left hand and lowered the other. "And White," he raised his right hand and lowered the left one. "Because of…the many years of abuse that we faced, it's going to take a long time to get over it. Black," he then looked at his other hand. "But since Robert was sent to jail, and we were adopted by Ronan-"

"Thanks to us," Carlos interrupted with a proud smile.

Sydney merely looked at him out of the corner of his eye. "Yeah," he agreed. "Our life is slowly getting better. White." He lowered both of his hands, rolling his eyes slightly. "It's not _that_ hard to figure out."

Kendall's eyebrows raised, but he didn't say anything. He was used to it actually, having their foster father, Robert Jackson, be sent to jail for abusing them for years only a few months ago, as well as having been adopted by their music producer, Ronan McGuire, they were still adjusting to everything.

"That sounds like a really cool idea," James offered, sitting up straight. "I think it'll go over really well." He cleared his throat, still not really sure what to say to raise the tension that had fallen all over them. "Oh," he leaned forward and grabbed onto the notepad that they had been writing on. "Do you want to hear what we have of our new song so far?"

"Yeah," Patrick rubbed his hands together as he leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. "Lay it on me."

"Cool," James ran a hand over his mouth. "We just got the sound sample today and this is all that we can think of so far," He waited for Logan to turn on the music from his iPhone and bobbed his head to the beat for a few seconds before singing. "I tried to write this down, the words just don't come out, it's hard to say how you feel. "Been down the longest road, said 'yes' when I meant 'no', I lost control of the wheel."

He closed his eyes as he sang with the emotion that he could put into it. The idea that Natalie was possibly coming to LA was scaring him and that just put the right amount of emotion that he needed into the song lyrics that he had written. How many times could you try to explain someone something and have them keep misinterpreting what you're saying over and over again. He lost control of the situation, and until Natalie got to LA, it wasn't going to do anything but cause him a little bit of anxiety as well as discomfort not knowing what was going to happen.

Noah continued to nod after Logan turned off the music and James stopped singing. His eyes narrowed for a fraction of a second before he gave his two cents. "I think that's really good so far," he turned his head a little. "How long…have you been working on this?"

"Like James said, we just got the sample today," Logan replied.

"Was it Gustavo's idea that you only work on one song at a time?" Noah continued in his soft voice.

"Yep," Logan nodded, suddenly getting the feeling that they were doing something wrong. "He thinks that we should focus on one song at a time so we don't start jumping around and get nothing done." He paused as the Jacksons nodded slowly. "What?" His blood pressure started to rise and he could feel his heart beat thud against his chest. "What is it?"

"Nothing, Logie, relax." Riley rubbed her forehead. "It's just typical Gustavo behavior." She shrugged.

Now it was Logan's turned to nod slowly as he took in what she had said. His eyes lowered to her hands and his eyebrows twitched when he noticed her hands repeatedly forming fists and opening them. "Hey, are you ok?" he motioned to her hands.

"Fine," Riley quickly placed them on her legs, holding them still. "Nervous habit."

"If I'm not mistaken," Rhuben jumped in and quickly changed the subject back to their music. "You guys changed your sound a little bit." She rested her chin in her upraised palm. "You wanted to sound a bit older?"

"We wanted to appeal to our older fans, actually," Kendall gently corrected her. "We felt that our first CD sounded a bit too much like it was only for our younger fans, and we wanted to be sure that our older fans didn't feel left out."

"Having your fans as your main driving point instead of fame, it'll keep you grounded." Sydney nodded appreciatively. He finally gave his famous dimples smile. "You're starting to think like _real_ celebrities," he shook his head. "Not the ones that want to have nothing but stuff and only care about their fame."

"Like the Kardashians," Patrick supplied.

For the last half hour of the time that BTR spent at Rocque Records, they took Sydney's advice about not forcing the song to come out and decided to put it on the back burner for a while. Instead, much to Kendall, James, and Carlos' annoyance, they got started on the homework that they had been assigned earlier that day. While Logan finished in the first ten minutes, due to the fact that he had done it ahead of time, after looking at the syllabus that Miss. Collins had handed out at the beginning of the year, he was able to goof off on his iPhone in between helping his friends finish their work. That only resulted in Carlos and James getting into a paper ball fight, before joining Patrick and Noah in making paper airplanes and throwing them as far as they could. Kendall, on the other hand, was busy designing his own hockey trading card and looking up sports stats on his own iPhone whenever Logan wasn't paying attention or trying to get the rest of his friends to calm down.

"Fuck that," Rhuben sighed and pushed her notebook away, rubbing her temples. "I'm done, I can't think anymore."

"You didn't think much to begin with," Riley quipped and leaned out of the way as Rhuben reached over to hit her on the back of the head.

"I never noticed before," Carlos stated as he finally sat down with a pout, after Logan took his paper airplane away. He leaned forward and rested his arms on the table in front of them, tapping his notebook as he stared at his notes. "But do you guys curse a lot?"

Noah shrugged. "I don't know, I didn't notice either." He looked at Patrick out of the corner of his eye and Patrick instinctively leaned forward and put his hands over Sydney's ears, causing the young boy to smile knowingly.

"Well, shit, I didn't know that it bothered you so much," Riley said casually, although she was smirking mischievously. "We'll try to stop."

"Crap," Rhuben poked Riley in the cheek. "You just did it again." She gave an over-exaggerated gasp of remorse and placed a hand over her mouth. "Oh dear, so did I."

Carlos rolled his eyes as he shook his head, although he couldn't help but smile a little. He couldn't help it, with everything that they had gone through before and when they had met BTR, the Jacksons deserved some moments to be immature and have fun, unlike how serious they usually were. Carlos sniffed loudly. "I'm sorry, but I can't help it if my mom brought me up to be respectful and not to curse." He immediately clapped his hands over his mouth as Kendall, James, and Logan shot him dark looks.

Riley's eyes narrowed sharply. "Well _excuse me_," she muttered, rolling her eyes. "It was just a joke."

"He didn't mean it like that," Kendall came to Carlos' rescue, speaking gently. "He just means that his mom didn't want him to be impressioned with cursing around him because it has negative views with it. He didn't mean it against you personally, like," he placed a hand on his chest. "Mom and I both don't want to Katie to start cursing, but we'd have you guys around her without having to worry about it."

"Nice save," Rhuben said, although there was a hint of sarcasm to her tone.

"Must be a real bitch for ya," Patrick got one last one in, laughing along with Riley, Rhuben, and Noah, before letting go of Sydney's ears. "Sorry, I had to say it."

"Oh," Noah laughed, clapping his hands gleefully. "That was a good burn."

"Ha ha, you guys are such a riot," James closed his notebook, giving up on his homework as well. He ignored Logan's disapproving glance. "We still got ten minutes left before we can leave," he moved the notepad back in front of him and continued to stare at the song lyrics, seeming to wish that they were just burst into flames so they wouldn't have to worry about it anymore. "What are you guys doing the rest of the day?"

"Today's Monday, Handsome," Rhuben replied. "We have to go back into the studio at seven." She pinched the bridge of her nose before turning to her twin sister and giving her a pointed look. "We should give the guys our schedule, that way they'll stop asking us that same question _every day._" Riley nodded in reply.

"It's easy to forget when you have nothing but Gustavo's _screaming_ ringing in your ears all day," Logan reminded her. "Which gives me newfound respect for Kelly and Ronan, since they get the most of it."

"That reminds me," Patrick said from where he was balancing his pencil on his nose. "We can't hang out after we're done here, Ronan's got some late meetings and we need to do some chores before he gets back."

Logan snorted. "Chores?" He repeated. "Since when would you rather do chores than-"He flinched, nearly crushing the pencil in his finger as Gustavo's voice floated down the hall then.

"DOGS," He shouted. "HOW FAR HAVE YOU GOTTEN ON THAT SONG?"

"We're doing _fine_!" Kendall shouted back. He looked at his watch before quickly scrambling to gather his things together. At Gustavo's yell, Carlos had jumped up and shoved everything into his backpack in one sweep. "I don't care if we still have five minutes; let's get out of here _now _so we don't get yelled at some more."

Sydney smiled. "There's a hockey game coming on, isn't there?" he guessed.

"Is it that obvious?" Kendall smiled sheepishly as he put his backpack onto his back.

"No," Riley closed her notebook and smirked at him. "You're just _that_ predictable.

* * *

><p>When Big Time Rush entered the PalmWoods, they noticed Bitters wasn't at his front desk, glaring at them like they were the bane of his existence. In a way, they were, ever since they had gotten to LA and the PalmWoods, it didn't seem like they ever had a day where Bitters wasn't threatening them with a strike and to be kicked out of the PalmWoods apartment building.<p>

"Well, Bitters isn't here, so that means that we can have those relay races at the pool," Carlos cheered, punching the air with his fists. He slapped James and Logan on the arms. "Come on; let's go see if anyone's around so we can get them to do it too."

"Why not?" James grinned as he flexed his muscles. "That way the ladies can get their daily dose of James."

"And people say you're _not _conceited," Logan said as he rolled his eyes.

"I'm just gonna go grab Katie and we'll meet you down here." Kendall said as he slapped Logan on the arm and slipped out into the PalmWoods lobby. Logan nodded and followed James and Carlos into the PalmWoods pool area. He looked around and saw that they were talking to Guitar Dude and Stephanie and Camille.

Logan looked around and noticed Jo sitting in a cabana, looking down at her cell phone, annoyed, and drinking a smoothie. He walked over to her and dropped his backpack onto the ground before sitting in the chair across from her. "Do you mind if I join you?" He asked, waiting for Jo to nod before doing as he was told. He studied her, instead of her usually bubbly self, she looked tired and nothing short of completely irritated. The fact that she kept glancing at her cell phone didn't help matters much either. "Are you ok?" Jo nodded. "Come on, Jo, I know you're not. You've been acting strange since we went to that dance club."

Jo raised her thumb to her mouth and bit down on the nail, not sure if she should answer the question. The worry that flashed across her face would have been comical if it weren't for the fact that she was never one to worry much about anything. Jo looked over at Logan once more, and then sighed when she noticed the stern, fatherly expression on his face.

"I'm…just having a bit of a problem with Jett," Jo replied slowly. Logan's eyebrows rose, motioning for her to continue. "He just said something really insulting at the dance club, that didn't really bother me." She waved a hand. "But since he's one of the few people that will help me get the part on New Town High, which I _really _want, I kind of have to put up with it. He's been texting me a lot and it's kind of been getting on my nerves."

Logan's eyebrows lowered into their normal position and he sucked his lips into his mouth, trying to figure out what to say. He had never had someone sort of harass him before, and he wasn't really sure if Jett was really harassing Jo. The smarter part of him knew that whatever he was doing, they should nip it in the bud right then and there, but the other part of him, the part that didn't take risks or jump to conclusions, wanted to be sure that that was what was really going on at first.

"Do the other girls know?" Logan asked slowly, referring to Camille and Stephanie.

Jo shook her head. "I showed them his first text," she gave a short smile. "Which we got a good laugh out of. But now he keeps texting, it's always about the show but…" she shook her head again. "I don't know, I guess I'm overreacting."

"It's your gut instinct," Logan tried to give her some reassurance. "There's nothing wrong with that."

"But he hasn't done anything wrong." Jo defended him.

"If you feel that it gets any worse, let me know," Logan said with a genuine smile. "I'll help you in any way that I can, we all will."

"Thanks Logan." Jo smiled back.

* * *

><p>Kendall opened the door to his apartment and frowned when he realized how quiet it was. He was almost positive that his mother was going to be there, she usually was there to greet him and his friends with a snack or just to ask them about how their day was. Kendall tossed his backpack onto the folding table that they used for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and turned to the refrigerator to see a note sitting on the door. Walking over, he grabbed it and opened it to see his mother's careful, cursive:<p>

_Kendall, going out to a early dinner with Ronan, Gustavo, and Kelly. I made dinner for you guys; it's in the oven, turn it on when you start to get hungry and I'll be back soon. Love you._

Kendall folded the note and stuck it into his pocket and grabbed his backpack, going to put it in his bedroom. As he went, he noticed Katie in her room. He paused in her doorway, watching as she typed furiously on her laptop. Probably talking to her friends, or trying to find a great deal on something.

Katie must have noticed him, for she lifted her pillow and threw it at him. "Go away!" she snapped.

Kendall caught the pillow against his chest. "Katie, can we talk?"

"No," Katie continued to look at her computer screen. "Because I know what you want to talk about, and I _don't_ want to talk about it!"

Kendall sighed as he walked into the room, looking at his sister as he did so. Even though he hated to acknowledge it, Katie wasn't just his 'baby sister' anymore. She was obviously starting to grow up, he didn't see her reading comic books anymore, he saw that she was starting to care about how she dressed, and she was even wearing a little bit of makeup ever now and then. But she was still his baby sister and nothing was going to change that.

He was quickly starting to lose his patience, and did everything in his power not to snap at her. "You have to admit, part of this," Kendall motioned between himself and her as he entered the room, keeping a safe distance from her bed. "Is your fault too."

"Why are you saying that to me?" Katie asked, her nose wrinkling in annoyance. "You're the one that keeps bring it up."

"Because you're the one that's not communicating with me, you're _yelling_ at me," Kendall replied as calmly as possible. "I've been doing nothing but try to talk to you; I have never _once_ lost my temper."

"But you won't leave me alone!"

"I know, I know," Kendall sat down on the edge of Katie's bed and rested his hand on her knee, rubbing it for a second. "But that's just me; your big brother trying to make sure that his baby sister is ok." He waited for Katie to say something, but she stayed silent. His heart sank a little bit. They had never fought this long before, and it was really starting to get to him. "I'm sorry for prying into your personal life. I know you're growing up and that there are things that you don't want to let me in on, but if you don't let me in a little, I don't know whether or not to help you out or to let you go with it alone."

Katie slowly looked up from her computer screen. "I guess," she muttered, twisting her fingers.

"That being said, I'm going to drop the subject," Kendall continued. "Because I would rather act like nothing happened than have you mad at me and rush me into the boards,"

Katie gave him a strange look. "How are you always able to make a hockey metaphor for any conversation that you have?" She asked.

"I'm just good," Kendall leaned forward and kissed Katie on the head. "Truce?" He held out his hand.

"Oh, fine, truce." Katie replied after a moment and grabbed it in hers. Kendall smiled and pulled his little sister into his arms, giving her a hug.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **I don't know if I made the guys OOCs, please let me know. We finally get the chapters focusing on everyone again. Now, while Katie and Kendall have gotten over their fight, it's going to come back again at a later time. Some more drama, humor, and friendship with this chapter. I'm trying to make chapters as long as I can, where they're also not too long, just so I can explain a lot of things. Here you start to see the differences with BTR and DE, which is also a big part of the story as well as the look into the music industry.

As for what's up with DE, at least part of it, I showed the idea in my old story _With Friends Like These II: Don't Stop Believing_, but I'm going more into it in this story as well as some other problems they have. Also, we have decided to make it that Robert is the Jacksons' foster parent, instead of adoptive parent, it would be better for child services to be added into the story line that way.

Oh and if anyone isn't sure, this story focuses mainly on BTR, but it has my characters as main characters as well to push the story along. Some things that I have mentioned in my 'With Friends Like These' series will be mentioned/referenced to in this story (although it isn't chronologically with it), so it'll probably make sense if you read those as well as this.

I'll update again soon.

Cheers,

-Riles


	7. Unsaid Things

**Chapter Seven: Unsaid Things**

* * *

><p>Gustavo Rocque mumbled obscenities to himself as he struggled to close the door on his mansion. He had been meaning to get the doorknob and the lock fixed for ages, but he always had something come up. Plus, he wasn't going to skip a day of work just to wait for a locksmith to arrive. He didn't have that time, nor did he really care that much in the first place; if anyone wanted to steal his stuff, they might as well, and he already lost his other four mansions, what else could be taken?<p>

He didn't care about the monetary value of all of that stuff either; it just didn't really seem to matter much anymore.

He closed the door as firmly as possible; making sure that the doorknob would stick in the lock, and then walked down the long driveway to the limo that was waiting for him. He hadn't driven himself anywhere in years and he wasn't about to start anytime soon. Plus, his doctor suggested that he stopped driving for a while as the traffic in LA caused him to get the worst road rage that he could possibly imagine.

"Hey Carl," he greeted the driver as he opened the door for him. He was in his early 50s, his hair graying a little bit, but not so much that he looked very old. He always had a pleasant smile on his face, and while being Gustavo's driver for years, he was one of the few people that Gustavo _didn't_ yell at. "How are you doing today?"

"Not bad, Mr. Rocque, not bad," Carl replied with a pleasant smile. "Are you headed to the Tavern today?"

"Yep, I'm meeting Kelly, Ronan, and Kacy there for dinner and drinks." Gustavo replied as he got into the car and folded himself into the backseat. "Thanks."

"No problem," Carl replied. He peered at Gustavo a second longer than usual. "Pardon me for asking, because this might not be any of my business, but you seem a little more down than usual. Is there something wrong?"

"Nothing that I can't handle, thanks," Gustavo gave Carl a warm smile. "After you bring me back home tonight, why don't you take the rest of the night off?" he suggested. "It's been a while since you were able to spend some time with your family, so I'll give you a couple of days off."

"Are you _sure _you're ok?" Carl asked once more, just to make sure. He was now eyeing Gustavo with nothing but concern. "We can talk about it, talking may make things easier for you…with whatever is going on."

"I'm fine, Carl, I promise," Gustavo said as he held up his hand. "I just recently realized that life is short and that you need to experience life when you get the chance."

Carl smiled and shrugged as he closed the door behind Gustavo before walking to the front of the limo and getting in. He pulled it out of park and pulled away from Gustavo's house, heading towards the city of LA so Gustavo could meet up with his friends.

Gustavo sighed and tilted his head back, resting it against the headrest of his seat, flipping his sunglasses down over his eyes. He closed his eyes and thought about his life growing up. He didn't have many friends if any at all. When his parents found out about his talent with the piano and singing, they forced him to practice hour after hour, day after day, to make sure that he was able to take that talent and make it even bigger. It didn't help much that they usually weren't around much unless it had to do with his music. They didn't put him in many sports, and he was chubby s a kid, something that caught up to him as he got older.

In all cases, he would probably blame his anger and constant frustration on his parents; they never had a good relationship with them. He felt that they didn't care about anything but his music career. They pushed him to excel in school so he could get into the best college that would help him with his composing. When he announced that he would become a music producer, they were thrilled…even more so when he started to produce music for bands that had gotten so big he started to rake in money. But the more money he made, the more he pushed people away from him. It wasn't until he met Robert, Ronan, and Kelly that he at least started to feel something for other people than emptiness. He hated Robert's guts and always had a bad feeling about him, which ended up being great intuition. He didn't like Ronan, but he didn't hate him either. He knew that he was the closest thing that he had to a friend, even though it was still weird for him to believe.

When he met Kelly, he thought that she was going to be pushed away from him in a matter of seconds. He had had three different partners before her and he was positive that he would have more after her. But after a week of working together and seeing that Kelly could easily shoot her own screaming and attitude right back into his face, he knew that she was going to be able to help him a lot. And she had, if she didn't keep pushing him to continue looking for 'the fire' in Minnesota, which was their last stop on a nationwide casting call, he wouldn't be where he was now.

_And now look at yourself Dad, all of that time that you could have actually cared about what I did, it's all falling apart and __now__ you want my attention other than for money. _Gustavo slowly shook his head. _We'll just see about that, especially after Griffin's phone call._

Gustavo didn't open his eyes until he felt the limo creep to a stop. He unbuckled himself and gave Carl a nod of thanks before lifting his hefty frame out of the car and walking into the Tavern. He found Ronan, Kelly, and Mrs. Knight pretty easily, able to hear Kelly's ranting voice from the back of the restaurant. She seemed to be disclosing her events of a date that she had recently. Gustavo had heard it recently, since it was partially his fault. They were at a company meeting and he was tired of Kelly's nagging at him, so he grabbed a random person that looked to be about her age and set them up on a date so he could eat more food and avoid Griffin the best he could.

"Hey Gustavo, glad you finally made it," Ronan greeted with a warm smile.

"Hey," Mrs. Knight gave a bright smile.

"Hi," Kelly stated through gritted teeth.

"God, are you talking about that guy again?" Gustavo asked as he pulled out the empty chair that was reserved for him and sat down, scooting into the table. He rolled his eyes as Kelly reached out and slapped him on the arm. "That was last weekend, get over it!"

"It's kind of hard to get over it when he _won't stop calling_!" Kelly declared, hitting him on the arm once more.

"Just block his number and don't worry about it," Ronan suggested, snorting as he tried not to burst out laughing. "Or better yet, keep it and forward his texts to me." He had a gleeful, childlike smile on his face. "I could use a laugh every now and then."

This time, Mrs. Knight reached out and slapped Ronan on the arm as he burst out into peals of laughter, leaning back in his chair, and clapping his hands as he did so. Gustavo just shook his head and looked up as a waiter walked over to them to get their drink order.

"Can I get a Heineken?" Gustavo asked as he looked up at the waiter that had stopped by his table. "Thanks" He rested his arms on the table and ran his hands over his face, letting out a heavy sigh as Kelly, Mrs. Knight, and Ronan put in their drink orders.

"Is something wrong, Gustavo?" Mrs. Knight questioned, taking the bait. Her hazel eyes showed nothing but concern as she looked at her friend and co-worker. "You seem to be really beat." She had never seen him like this before, even when he had stayed up night after night working on music for Big Time Rush. Having only been BTR's Momager for only a short period of time, being appointed that job a little bit before the boys' first CD came out, she worked closely with Gustavo and Kelly, and even when he was exhausted, he didn't look this bad.

It was kind of scary, really.

"I'm under so much pressure, you wouldn't believe it." Gustavo replied, his face still in his hands.

"Gustavo, we're _all _under a lot of pressure," Ronan reminded him patiently as he leaned back in his seat, stretching his legs out underneath the table. "I mean, we're all making sure that the kids we're working with has a successful second CD after the success they've had with their first ones and-"

"Have you heard anything about your guys' first CD yet?" Gustavo interrupted in a snap. Ronan started to shake his head and Gustavo cut him off once more. "I thought so, so shut up!"

Ronan gave an amused smile and looked over at Kelly who, apart from her partner, didn't look tired at all. In fact, she didn't look stressed in the slightest, and that was saying something, as she was the one that had to work alongside the Gustavo Rocque all day long. She had to endure his constant screaming, shouting, blood-pressure checks, and berating of the boys of BTR, but she always managed to have a smile on her face. But now, she looked just as worried as Mrs. Knight was, and that put Ronan's senses on alert.

Kelly was the one that knew almost everything about Gustavo, and if Kelly was worried, then everybody should be worried.

"I want…no…NEED to have this second CD be great, or Griffin will fire me." Gustavo murmured, moving his face from his hands, replacing it with his chin. He noted Mrs. Knight's and Ronan's gasps of shock and nodded. "That's what Kelly did." He gave a wry smile. "I yelled so much I nearly broke a blood vessel in my eye, I couldn't believe it."

"Fire you?" Mrs. Knight repeated, tightening her hands into fists. "Fire you?" she said once more. "I'm sorry," she shook her head, her auburn hair swishing back and forth over her shoulders. "I don't understand, you _just _said that the first CD so well, it went GOLD!" She smacked her hand on the table. "Why would Griffin still want to fire you?"

"Because he said that he hasn't had anyone on his label that has gotten less than platinum on their first CDs, and he is right." Gustavo admitted. "Every group I tried before, the first CD was phenomenal, and then their popularity went down and they tanked. My other group the Bad Boys, didn't sell a single CD. And when Boy Quake went out, Griffin put a tight hold on me and my career." He leaned back in his seat. "If this doesn't work, then I'm done."

"So why didn't you say anything before?" Mrs. Knight asked, lowering her voice.

"What's there to say?" Kelly defended her partner. "When it comes to Griffin, you can hardly change his mind. He's our boss and we have to do what he says. Even Fujisaki probably wouldn't be able to get him to keep Gustavo on." She paused. "You know if he hasn't died yet." She alluded to Fujisaki, who co-owned Rocque Records through a deal with RCM-CBT-Global Net-Sanyoid products.

Gustavo looked up as the waiter came back with their drinks. He grabbed the bottle of Heineken and swallowed a large portion of it in one gulp before the others had even taken their drinks from the waiter. Ronan slowly shook his head as he watched his friend. He felt really bad. Gustavo and Ronan were best friends, even though Gustavo would probably never admit it outright. They had known each other for years and had constantly, subtly, helped each other's careers grow over the years. It was really weird for Ronan to see Gustavo so subdued like that, especially since he had never heard the man be so quiet since he met him.

"What about the boys, have you talked to them yet?" Ronan asked slowly, already having an inkling of what the answer was going to be.

Gustavo hesitated. "On a scale of one to ten, how important are these questions?"

"What?" Ronan snapped.

"I mean," Gustavo twiddled his thumbs. "How important is that question and how important is the answer to that question?"

Ronan looked dumbfounded. "You drop a bombshell like _that_ –telling me that you could be fired and-"

"Relax, Ronan, we don't know that that's going to happen," Kelly interrupted, wanting to keep them from yelling at each other. "Besides, didn't we come here for dinner to _talk_, and _have fun_ and _not worry about work?_" She looked at Mrs. Knight for backup, silently urging to jump into the conversation.

"Kelly's right," Mrs. Knight quickly agreed and picked up her glass of wine, holding it above her head as she thought of a toast. "We came here to celebrate the new CDs and to our kids working hard to make sure that it's a success." She paused, pressing a finger to her chin. "So…I vote that we toast to…good health-"

"Cliché!" Gustavo coughed into his fist, starting to sound like himself. Kelly kicked him in the leg and Gustavo rolled his eyes as he held up his bottle of beer. Ronan smirked, picking his Samuel Adams and Kelly took her own wine in her free hand. "Go on."

"As I was saying, we toast to good health, hard work, our jobs, and to the future success of every one." Mrs. Knight said and held up her glass for the others to clink them again.

The four of them took sips of their drinks and Kelly continued on and on about the man that she had the ill-fated date with. Gustavo just sat back, listening to the conversation as he waited for his food. But he still acted weirdly when it got there, instead of finishing his food in seconds and trying to trick Ronan out of his, he just ate quietly, picking at the food that was on his plate. None of the others wanted to ask if he was ok, knowing that they would just be snapped at in reply, or that he would continue to ignore them completely.

"Gustavo, what-"

Gustavo cut Ronan off by abruptly getting to his feet, pushing his chair back. "I have some work to do at the studio; I'll see you guys later." He said and left the restaurant.

Kelly turned in her seat, twisting around as she watched him leave. She turned back to Mrs. Knight and Ronan, who were staring at her, waiting for a response. "That's funny," she commented. "We weren't scheduled to work tonight."

"Well," Mrs. Knight twisted her fingers together. "Maybe he's just getting some stuff done so he can prove to Griffin that he shouldn't be fired."

"Maybe," Ronan agreed.

Kelly sighed, resting her chin in her hand. "Kacy, do you mind-"

"Not telling the boys?" Mrs. Knight guessed. "I'll do my best, but I've been told that I'm a terrible liar."

"But you're forgetting that the kids that you live with, besides Katie, wouldn't even notice if you dyed your hair blonde until two months after it's been done, and you're thinking of changing it back." Ronan pointed out. "They're _that_ oblivious."

"Good point," Mrs. Knight agreed. "Then I really only have to try and make sure that Katie is too busy to notice me hiding something." She shrugged. "Easier said than done."

* * *

><p>Mrs. Knight let out a sigh as she entered apartment 2J later that night. She looked up warily as Carlos went screaming by her, a pillow over his head, chasing Kendall, James, and Logan, who were screaming as well, laughing their heads off. Feathers were flying everywhere and a pillow was lying on the ground, the front of it obviously having ripped open with the force of a hit. Katie, seemingly oblivious to the whole thing, was sitting on her computer and drinking a can of soda.<p>

Mrs. Knight rolled her eyes as she dropped her purse onto the table, crossing her arms over her chest, wondering if they would notice her before she even had to say anything. But the boys continued to run around the apartment, jumping up and down on the couch, as well as rushing into the bedrooms, grabbing more pillows.

"Hey!" Katie cried as she was hit in the back of the head with a pillow. It caused her to jolt forward, almost spilling her can of soda onto her keyboard. "Watch it, you idiots!"

"BOYS!" Mrs. Knight yelled impatiently.

"Heh heh," Kendall gave a nervous smile and a short wave as he moved the pillow in his other hand behind his back. His mother looked at him sharply as he widened his smile. "How was dinner? Did you get a chance to relax?"

Mrs. Knight sighed and rubbed her temples as the boys and Katie continued to look at her with expressions of guilt and fear, knowing that when she was mad, she could blow up at you without a second's notice. A feather landed on her nose and she blew it away with a short breath of air, keeping her eyes on the boys.

"We'll clean up," Katie said with a sweet smile.

"Yes," Mrs. Knight brushed some feathers off of the table. "You are." She rolled her shoulders and her neck as she slowly walked towards the five of them, causing them to take a step back each time she took a step forward. "And I'm going to go take a bath, and wonder what my life was like _before_ I decided to watch all of you guys while we're out in LA."

"Well, it might not've been that much easier," Carlos commented innocently. "Since we were always at your house anyway." His eyes widened as James and Logan slapped their hands over his mouth and Kendall and Katie shot him hard looks. "What?" he asked behind their hands, his voice muffled.

Mrs. Knight gave a pained smile before disappearing into her's and Katie's bedroom.

Logan sighed as he looked around at the mess. "I _told_ you that she would be mad," he muttered as he started to gather a pile of feathers together. "I need to get more friends."

"And yet, you continue to hang out with us." James reminded him, slapping him hard on the back. He laughed as he grabbed a handful of feathers and blew them into Kendall's face before tossing them away into a trash bag.

"Mom seemed kind of mad," Katie commented to Kendall as she dropped to her knees and helped the boys clean up as well. "Like, more so than usual."

"No," Kendall shook his head, his mouth set in a firm line as he thought about it. "I don't think she was mad about this, I just think that she was upset about something else." He looked thoughtful as he rubbed his chin, moving his green eyes to the bedrooms. "Maybe something happened at dinner?" He suggested.

"Do you think something bad happened?" Carlos asked, frowning at the idea. He hated it whenever anyone was remotely in danger or in trouble of some sort and tried to help them in any way that he could.

"No, if that were the case, then Ronan or Kelly would have called her or one of us by now." Kendall commented. "I might as well check her phone, just in case she missed call or something, though." He walked over to her purse and started to dig around for his mother's phone.

"Uh, are you sure that's a good idea, Big Bro?" Katie asked. "You know how mom is about us going through her purse."

"Actually, that's women in general." James pointed out.

"I'm just getting her phone," Kendall replied as he continued to dig around, making sure not to look into the purse at all. "I've done it a million times before, besides, if I don't look, then I don't have to worry about potentially breaching her privacy." He let out a laugh of triumph as he grabbed her phone and pulled it out. "Hmm," looking over the screen, he pushed a few buttons as he opened her text messages. His face twitched for a second, and then moved back to its placid state before he shook his head and put it back into her purse, but not after pushing a few more buttons. "Nothing there."

"Well, maybe she's just had a long day," Logan suggested.

"If that's the case, then I vote that after we get done here, we leave so mom can have some time to herself and so she won't be disturbed for a while." Katie suggested as a mischievous look came onto her face. "Maybe, I don't know…" she twirled some of her hair around her index finger. "Visit the Jacksons at the studio tonight?"

"Katie, you know they don't like it when we go over there," Logan reminded her. "We're a 'distraction'" he used air quotes around the words. "Remember?" He sounded bitter.

"Maybe not," James spoke up. "That rule was made up by their Dad…Robert right? So, I don't think that Ronan would follow that rule at all, so maybe they wouldn't mind us dropping by, _coincidentally." _He gave an over exaggerated wink at his friends."

"Please don't do that again." Kendall said as he pointed at James. "But he _does_ have a point. We never asked them to drop by Rocque Records and they've been doing it since we met them, so if Ronan is now in charge, why don't we drop by on them?"

"I like the way you think, bro." Katie beamed.

"I still don't think it's a good idea," Logan admitted. "But I know that you guys aren't going to listen to me when I say, 'don't go'." He went over to the trashcan in the kitchen and picked it up, walking it back over to his friends. "So we might as well get this done sooner rather than later unless you want to hear me ranting all the way to Blazing Phoenix Records."

* * *

><p><em>I got a one way ticket<br>On a hell bound train  
>With nothing to lose and nothing to gain<br>Nobody ever taught me how to live  
>I'm feeling like I'm lost<br>Like I'll never be found  
>I'm twisted and I'm turned around<br>Nobody ever taught me how to love_

"Great job, Noah," Ronan said as he leaned forward and pushed a intercom button on the switchboard. "Your vocals were really great at the beginning, but they quivered a bit in the middle of the second part, and if anything, we won't need it until the end of the bridge, so work on that."

Noah, who was in the sound booth, nodded as he gave a thumbs up, before sliding his headphones back up onto his ears. He shifted the music that was sitting in front of him, making a note on it, as he studied it intently.

"We'll come back to that later," Ronan looked at the music that was sitting in front of him. "Why don't you try the repeated chorus towards the end?" he suggested before turning around in his chair and facing Noah's brothers and sisters, who were sitting on the couches that were crammed into the control room. "Just because I got back from dinner late, we're going to have to work really hard on this, alright?"

"When do we not?" Sydney asked innocently, although there was a hint of arrogance in his voice.

Ronan rolled his eyes, and looked up as the door to the control room opened. He smiled as Big Time Rush entered the room. Logan gave a sheepish smile once he caught the eye of their friends. "Hey guys, what brings you by?"

"Oh, we were just in the neighborhood." James replied as nonchalantly as possibly.

"Yeah, _coincidentally_." Carlos agreed.

"Idiot," Katie shook her head as she elbowed him in the side. "You really need to learn to keep your mouth shut whenever we're trying to convince someone of something." She turned back to Ronan. "We didn't think that you guys would mind-"

"It's cool," Patrick spoke up, twirling a pen around his fingers. "We were just working on a song from _One Step Closer_," he pointed into the sound booth, where Noah waved, quickly ripping his headphones off of his ears once more. "Noah was taking his turn on vocals. No big."

"Are you sure?" Logan asked slowly, looking over at Riley and Rhuben. They hadn't said anything when the boys entered the room, and now they looked like they didn't know whether or not they should be uncomfortable or whether they should spit. Either way, it wouldn't help matters much at all. Logan looked over at Ronan as he turned and gave the two girls a pointed look, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah, it's fine," Riley agreed with a slow smile. "Come sit." They all made room on the couches so the guys and Katie could comfortably sit in the room with them. "You can listen as we work on the song."

"And give you some pointers?" Carlos asked.

"Yeah, don't get too ahead of yourself." Rhuben commented, earning a laugh from James as he moved by Logan to sit down next to Rhuben. Logan shot him a look before sitting down on Logan's other side. She smiled at Carlos' pout and reached forward, rubbing her hand over his head. "Aww, don't be upset, CareBear, I didn't mean to insult you."

Carlos beamed in reply, causing Patrick and Sydney to burst out laughing. Ronan smiled as he turned back to say something to Noah, but his cell phone rang before he could say anything. Pulling it out of his pocket, he made a face.

"Is it your mom?" Riley asked and Ronan nodded.

"What's wrong with his mom?" Kendall asked absentmindedly, his chin resting against his fist that was propped up with his elbow on the arm rest of the couch.

"Don't get me wrong, I love my mom," Ronan said as he continued to stare at his ringing phone. "But she is _very_ judgmental of my life." He rolled his eyes. "You should have seen her when I told her that I was adopting this lot." He forced a smile as he put his phone up to his ear. "Hey mom. Uh-huh. Yeah, I got it, thanks so much. This weekend? I don't know, I think we have some studio work to do. Yes, studio work. You know, from that job that I have been doing for forever where I actually _work_ with music?" Ronan chuckled as he pulled his phone from his ear. He turned to the teenagers that were sitting around him. "She just said, 'Oh, you son of bitch!'" He relayed, causing the others to laugh.

Patrick, on the other hand, gave a smirk, although his eyes held complete innocence. He crossed his arms over his chest, leaned back, and then asked, "Well, then what does that make her?"

Ronan snorted, pulling the phone away from his mouth for a second, trying not to completely lose it. When he had regained his composure, he put his phone back to his mouth and spoke to his mother once more. "All right, _enough_." He said warily. "Give it a rest would you? I'll let you know if we can make it this weekend. Look, I have to go…Because I have things to do…Of _course_ I'm trying to get rid of you, Mom. Is it working?" He sighed. "I love you too, Mom. Bye, Mom." He ended the call and slid his phone into his pocket before turning towards Patrick and holding out his hand. "Just for that, one week, no phone."

Patrick let out a heavy sigh as he pulled his own phone from his pocket and slapped it into his adoptive father's hand. "But you were thinking it too!" he protested.

"Yes, but I at least had the decency not to say it out loud." Ronan reminded him.

"So you don't get grounded," Carlos said slowly, after watching the whole exchange. "But you get your _phone_ taken away?" He humphed as he crossed his arms over his chest. "That's _so_ not fair!"

"And that's one of the few things that we like about Ronan," Rhuben replied as she slumped low on the couch, crossing her legs. She looked up, realizing her mistake as Ronan turned to her. She gave a sweet smile. "Did I say _few_? I meant _many_."

"What's up?" Noah asked, his voice filling the room.

"We might be going over to my parents' house for dinner this weekend," Ronan said, commencing to ignore the groans that his kids gave. "Ah pipe down you harpies, I said _might_." He let out a groan as Sydney's watch beeped.

"Ronan, its dinner time for us," Sydney practically sang as he got to his feet. "Which means it's time for a break." He leaned forward and pushed the button on the intercom to speak to Noah. "Let's get some chili cheese fries."

"You guys hungry?" Patrick asked as he turned to his friends. "We have plenty to go around."

"Yes!" Carlos cried, punching the air with his fists. He scrambled to his feet and darted out of the control room before anyone else could even bat an eye.

"He doesn't even know where he's going," Logan said with a heavy sigh as he got to his feet and hurried after him. "Carlos, come back here!" He called after his friend. "I swear, sometimes I'm like his mother or something."

Ronan laughed and waved Noah to get out of the sound booth as the others filed behind him. He watched as Sydney grabbed onto Katie's hand and led her out of the room, talking a mile a minute about the song that they were working on with Patrick, Riley, Rhuben, and James leaving behind them. But Kendall was moving slower than the others, his gaze glued to the floor.

"Are you ok?" Ronan asked Kendall, causing the blonde teen to stop and turn his attention to him. He noticed Kendall's slightly confused look. "I'm only asking because it seemed like you were completely ignoring everyone right now." He slightly tilted his head to the side as he continued to look at Kendall. "I something bothering you?"

Kendall looked away for a moment before shaking his head. "Everything's fine." He replied before clearing his throat, as his voice cracked at the end.

"Alright," Ronan looked like he wanted to call him out on it, but decided not to push him on it. _If he wanted to talk, he would talk; you don't have to force it out of him. _He reminded himself before crossing his arms over his chest. "But I'm here if you ever want to talk."

"Yeah," Kendall nodded once as well, slowly moving around the older man. "I know. Thanks, Ronan."

"Anytime."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **So I have Jo's, Stephanie's, Katie's, James', and Carlos' drama established, I have the idea for Kendall and the DarkElements, but I need help with what Logan's and Camille's drama should be. Dak and WayneWayne are gonna have normal drama, a bit differently than you guys would expect, but I'm stuck with Logan and Camille. So any help there would be greatly appreciated. Also, after a while of waiting the drama with drinking/drugs is gonna come up soon. I'm not keeping it a secret, but it's a common problem in the music industry and, realistically, it would probably hit one of them eventually. But it probably won't be for the person/people that you think. Thinking about it rationally, with so many characters and so many story lines with this story all rolled into one (the pressures of the music industry) this may be my longest BTR story.

Once more I know that Mrs. Knight's name is Jennifer, but I prefer to call her 'Kacy' as I like the 'K' name theme that Kendall's family has in real life. The adults refer to her as Kacy, but I'll continue to call her Mrs. Knight so no one gets confused.

I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, I'll update again soon.

Cheers,

-Riles


	8. Don't Know Why

**Chapter Eight: Don't Know Why**

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><p><em>Do I really want the part this bad? <em>Jo thought to herself as she stared at the ceiling, while lying on her back on her bed. _It's an amazing part and I know that it will definitely be something that could help my career._

Jo rolled onto her side as she clutched her pillow to her stomach. "It's time like these I wish mom wasn't always so buys, that way I could get her advice without having to be cut off all the time." She scanned her room, looking at the pictures and posters of her friends that lined her wall. She then turned and looked at a picture of herself when she was younger and still back in North Carolina.

In the picture she was wearing a pretty dress and had a trophy in her hands. Her mother and father were standing by her side, grinning proudly. She had just won first place in the talent show for her singing. That's what she had wanted to do when she had first gotten to the PalmWoods. But then she realized that she also had a special place in her heart for acting and had gotten a few small commercials under her belt. Now she had the role for New Town High coming her way and she didn't know if she wanted to live her dream and put up with a guy that wouldn't leave her alone or just give it up completely.

Jo reached over for her phone as it buzzed once again. She knew who it was without having to pick it up. Jett hadn't left her alone since she had met him at the dance club. He recognized her from her headshot and resume and immediately started to flirt with her. According to him, "he always got with the female leads" and was really pressuring her to take the part.

Jo grabbed her phone and picked it up to look at the text that he had sent her.

**Jett: Hey there, have you decided whether or not you're going to star with me on the show yet? ;) I promise I'll make it worth your while.**

Jo shook her head and erased the message, placing her phone facedown back on her bed. She knew that she probably had the same sort of message on her ScuttleButter and she knew that it was going to make things worse. Her fans and PopTiger magazine were already starting to ask lots of questions. Her publicist was getting a lot of phone calls about it lately.

_I should send her a bouquet of flowers or something so she feels a bit better by getting bombarded by it. _Jo reasoned.

Her phone buzzed again and she picked it up to see her agent calling her. Jo sighed and answered the call, putting the phone to her ear. "Hello?"

"Hey there, Miss. Jo, how are things going for you?" Her agent, Marcy asked cheerfully.

"Good, I guess." Jo replied, trying to sound as upbeat as possible, but failing.

"I just need to know, have you figured out whether or not you're going to take the part on New Town High?" Marcy asked curiously. "I need to know soon or there's going to be a lot of problems with the production and everything." She paused. "Are you still having doubts about it?"

"Only because Jett wont' leave me alone," Jo replied quietly, running a hand over her face.

"I don't mean to sound insensitive, but do you want to be black-balled this early in your career?" Marcy asked. Jo shook her head, even though she knew that Marcy couldn't see her do so. "I think that you should just ignore him, or try your best to be civil with him while you're working because this is really detrimental to your career. You know that I just want you to do the best that you can out here, I've seen your talent and I know that you will go far with this."

"Thanks Marcy," Jo replied quietly. She thought hard about it. All of her friends were saying that she should go for it, and she only told Logan and her agent about her problems with Jett, and she knew that Logan wouldn't tell anyone else unless she asked for it. Plus, just talking about it the last time helped a lot. "You know what; I think I'm going to take the part. If you can, please send me over another script or whatever I need to do this audition."

"No problem Jo, I know that you're going to do great!" Marcy said and bid her goodbye before hanging up.

Jo hung up her phone as well before letting out a groan, grabbing her pillow, and pulling it over her head.

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><p><strong>AN: **This was originally supposed to be a longer chapter, but then I really wanted to do this scene with Jo. Sorry it's short, but it's supposed to be this short on purpose. I hope you guys liked it and I'll update again soon.

Cheers,

-Riles


	9. Normal Adolescent Behavior

**.:Chapter Nine - Normal Adolescent Behavior:.**

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><p>"Hey, do you guys have any plans for this weekend?" Patrick asked as he pushed his plate of fries away from him, grabbing onto a notebook. He flipped it open, quickly moving past pages of doodles and lyrics as he tried to find a blank page. He leaned forward and started to write something in it. "We need to know so we can get a bus or a van for you guys."<p>

"Why?" Kendall asked as he leaned back in his seat, popping a French Fry into his mouth. "Where are you going this weekend?"

"We're going to a crypt." Sydney replied in the same tone that he would say they were going to the park to play some football. But it seemed like such an odd comparison to be so calm about it.

_A Crypt? _ Kendall exchanged glances with his friends and could tell from the look on their faces that they were thinking the same thing. Carlos' mouth was hanging open; James looked like he was completely freaked out, and Logan just looked at them like they were crazy.

"What?" Sydney shrugged carelessly as he inspected his hamburger. "It's just an underground vault, with all the inherent fear of suffocation and smothering that such places naturally engender in mankind." He made a face when he noticed the proud looks that his siblings had on their faces. Even though Sydney had a habit of annoying people with his smarts, it wasn't something they could ignore and not be proud of. "And there's no denying a crypt is a shadowy and mysterious chamber rife with negative mythology. Not to mention the atmospheric hint of dark rituals far older than Christianity itself." Sydney concluded with a bright smile.

"So, let me get this straight," Logan commented as he folded his hand and rested it on the table in front of him. "You're telling us that you guys are shooting a music video this weekend, and you're going to be shooting it in a _crypt_?" He waved his hands. "Is that about right?" Sydney nodded as she started to squirt ketchup onto his plate. "Are you crazy? Do you know what happens if you disturb the dead?"

"Hey, if you don't want to go, just say so," Patrick commented with a shrug.

Katie smiled as she pushed her empty plate away from her and crossed her ankles, leaning forward so she could be in on the conversation as well. Unlike the times she would go to Rocque Records to watch the boys goof off when it came to working on their music, she knew that things at Blazing Phoenix worked differently. Apart from the fact that the Jacksons prided themselves on their work integrity, the way that they ran the guys showed that they cared about their music career as well.

"No, we want to go," Katie said eagerly. "It would let me see how a music video shoot is _really _supposed to work." She turned and flashed a smile at Kendall. She laughed as Kendall rolled his eyes and reached out, pushing her head towards the table. "What song are you doing the video for?"

"It's a surprise," Noah replied as he wiped his mouth with a napkin."But trust me when I say that it'll be an experience you won't forget." He tossed his napkin onto his plate and then pointed at Katie's. "Are you done?" She nodded and he grabbed her plate before getting Riley's and Rhuben's as well. He kicked his chair back away from the table and walked them over to an empty table before sitting back down with his friends again. "So are you in or not?" He flipped his hair out of his face.

"I'm in!" Katie said quickly. She blushed a little and bowed her head, realizing that she had said it kind of loudly. "If that's ok," she added lamely.

"'Course it is," Patrick commented. "We wouldn't have asked if it wasn't ok." He leaned back in his seat as he tapped his chin with his pen. "Do you think that the others would be able to go too?" He asked curiously. "Dak and WayneWayne I'm sure wouldn't miss it." He darted his eyes over to Kendall, watching as the blonde made a slight grunting sound and rubbed the back of his neck. James, Logan, and Carlos stayed silent. The four of them still weren't on great terms with WayneWayne, they were slowly opening up to him, but Kendall was the one that still seemed to have a sort of vendetta against him, even though he would never say it out loud. "But Camille, Stephanie, and…Jo might have something to do that day."

"Just ask them or leave a security pass, it should be fine." Sydney said through a full mouth. He licked ketchup off of his chin and then tilted his head to the side. "So, do you guys have anything else to that song yet? I'd like to hear it."

Logan made a face as he exchanged glances with his friends. Work on the song was going very slowly. They had added a few lines to the bridge and part of a joke rap that Logan had made up one day when they were brainstorming more ideas, but it wasn't anything spectacular. Gustavo was becoming antsy even though they had only been working on it for a couple of days and Kelly had called a few times asking about it herself. They weren't the only ones who were nervous. It was the first time that they were going to be writing most of the songs on the CD and it was going to affect everyone that they were working with and their lives.

"I'm guessing that you do," Sydney put his hamburger down and wiped off his hands. "I'm going to have to hear it anyway if I'm helping Gustavo mix the whole thing." He reminded them.

Logan sucked his lips into his mouth and let out a sigh before grabbing his notebook off of the floor. He had started to bring it everywhere with him, taking their advice of having it or just a sheet of paper in general, ion case inspiration struck them. He opened it and flipped a couple of pages before sliding it over to his friends so they all could sit around it. James hummed a few notes to himself and then quickly snapped a beat to the song and then started to sing.

"I tried to write this down, the words just don't come out, it's hard to say how you feel. Been down the longest road, said yes when I meant no, I lost control of the wheel."

Logan and Carlos jumped in on the next verse with Carlos taking up the lead on the part. "Cause you know that things get so bad. You've got my back, make me wanna sing."

"And girl I'll sing about you." Logan cut in, keeping his eyes down on his notebook, afraid to look up and see what his friends' expressions were.

"No sweeter sound than what I've found," Carlos started up again, bobbing his head back and forth as he sang. "No perfect love could be more perfect than us." He looked up and shrugged slightly, giving a bright smile. "That's the newest hook that we came up with that we like the most."

"Oh," Kendall grabbed the notebook and flipped a few pages over. "And Logan came up with a rap for somewhere in the song as well." He put the notebook back down and slapped Logan on the back, dispelling the smart boy's glare with a charming smile. "Go ahead, buddy."

"Thanks," Logan said through gritted teeth. He cleared his throat a few times before wiping his hands off on his lap. "Well, it's the first thing that I thought of," he said, stalling a bit for time. "I don't even know if rapping is the way to go on this song, but it was something that I couldn't shake as soon as I had gotten it in my head." He cleared his throat once more. "And, I think that-"

"Logie," Rhuben interrupted swiftly, drumming her fingertips on the top of the metal table, her purple-black painted fingernails clacking with each hit. "We could get through this faster if you just went ahead and did it." She goaded as patiently as possible. Logan looked up at her and she raised an eyebrow as she looked back at him, not breaking the stare.

Katie held a hand over her mouth, making sure that no one noticed the smile slowly creep its way onto her face. Patrick shot a look towards her and she quickly adopted a bored expression until he turned away.

"Ok," Logan took a deep breath, looking at her a second longer, and then turned his attention back to his notebook. He took another breath and started to rap. "She's my music enhancer; when the music plays she's my dancer. When I'm around her everything's faster. Every question I have she's the answer. I'm head over heels, can't explain that this all so real, when I'm around you baby you make me feel like everything's better with you."

The four boys looked up at their friends and waited for their response. But they knew that they weren't going to get it pretty fast as they liked to think about their reaction before they actually gave it. Sydney had a smile on his face, so that was good news. He wasn't ever afraid to say whether or not he liked the music, as he was the one that worked the closest with them on it. But Riley, Rhuben, Patrick, and Noah were looking around, thoughtful expression on their faces.

"How many times have you worked on that before you finalized it with this?" Riley asked, flipping a few pages back and pointing to the part that Carlos and Logan had sang together.

"Uh," Carlos closed one eye as he thought about it. "All day, while Mama Knight was out with Gustavo and Kelly."

"Mhm," Katie nodded as she vouched for them. "You should have seen how many times they fought over it until Logan got them to shut up by writing the ending down and saying that they were going to stick with it." She rolled her eyes. "Sometimes I wonder how they function without me around to keep them from acting as idiotic as they already do."

"Don't quiet your day job," Riley commented, pushing her hair over her shoulders. "I think that this part is really great," she said honestly, causing the boys to smile. "It doesn't sound like anything that artists have done before and I can see people dancing to that portion." She leaned back in her seat, raising the right former of her mouth. "Good on ya."

"I agree," Rhuben nodded, her arms crossed over her chest. "I think that part is really cool and I think the rap is good as well," she moved her eyes over to Logan. He smiled back at her, pleased at the compliment.

It was the part of the song that he was worried about the most, more than writing the song itself. He had never told anyone that every now and then he liked to make up his own raps that he performed for himself. He was always self-conscious about it, and he wasn't sure what people would think or whether or not that they would judge him. He's a 'math-nerd' not a 'rapper', but if he was able to add 'pop star' to his name, why couldn't he branch out?

"But," Rhuben held up a finger, letting them know that she was going to give them some constructive criticism as well. "What I'm wondering is the _theme_ of the song." She said, looking directly at the four boys. "It's about a girl, right?"

"Right," James nodded, his smile fading a little bit, but he was listening intently. Every critique or downright slam against his work, he would take in, to make sure that he could fix whatever it was that he needed to fix. Anything to make his dream come true. "Is that bad?"

"Not in so many words," Patrick said as he rubbed a hand over his mouth. "It's not bad, it's just," he paused. "If you're trying to change your sound-"

"Then why continue to sing about a girl?" Noah broke in, coming to Patrick's rescue. "If you want your sound to be grown up, so that it can relate to your older fans more, then the subject can be a bit grown up as well."

"Exactly." Patrick nodded.

Katie looked over at Kendall and the other boys and felt a little sad, seeing the discouraged look on their faces. She didn't blame them. _I've never seen them look so down before. _She thought to herself, lacing her fingers together. _Not even when Gustavo is constantly yelling at them. _She blinked once. _They must __really__ want this. _She realized.

"Don't worry guys," Katie smiled as she wrapped her arms around Kendall in a tight hug. "Don't be so down, they're just giving their two cents to try and help you get better."

"She's right," Riley agreed. "You can do whatever you want with your music, we're just giving our opinion." She looked at her watch, changing the subject. "We still have, like, 20 minutes until we need to go back into the studio, do you want to play pool or something?" She asked her siblings.

"Sounds good to me," Patrick jumped at the chance. He turned and grabbed onto Katie's wrist. "C'mon, you _have_ to see our pool table and our ping-pong table, you can play against me, but I'm not going to go easy on you because you're a girl." He pulled her around the table and then let go of her hand before putting an arm around Noah's shoulders. "I'm going to beat you this time, buddy." He declared, lightly patting Noah on the stomach.

"I don't think so," Noah replied, although he wasn't smiling.

"Rhu," Logan grabbed Rhuben's attention as the other got up from the table. She turned to him, her blue eyes wide waiting for him to continue with what he was going to say. "Did you really like it?" He elaborated before she could even look confused. "My rap? Did you really think it was good?"

"I would have said otherwise if it was bad," she reminded him. Logan nodded. "Of course I thought it was good," she reached out and lightly hit him on the arm. "You need to have some more confidence in yourself." She added before turning on her heel, her ponytail bobbing as she followed her siblings.

Logan quickened his pace so he wouldn't be left behind.

The 10 friends left the large kitchen and walked to the game room. There was a dart board, a pool table, a ping-pong table, a card table, and some sit-n-bounces scattered around the room. Carlos let out a scream of delight and grabbed onto a sit-n-bounce before anyone could even breathe and was already bouncing around the room. Sydney grabbed the other one and started to follow after him, the two of them laughing loudly. Patrick, Noah, James, and Katie started up a game of ping-pong, Logan started up darts, and Riley and Kendall opted to play pool. Rhuben opted out of playing a game to take pictures of everyone as well as to watch Patrick, Noah, Katie, and James play pool, knowing they were going to get very competitive.

Kendall grabbed a pool cue off of the wall and held it in his hands for a few seconds before grabbing the chalk and rubbing it across the tip. He turned to Riley, who had gathered all of the balls and put them together in the cue, setting them up on the table.

"You can go first," he offered with a wave of his arm.

Riley shot him a look as she rounded the table towards the cue ball. "That's sweet, but I don't need permission." She murmured as she raised her pool cue towards the table and hit the cue ball. She made a face as she broke the formation of the other balls but didn't get any in the pockets.

Kendall stayed silent as he took a shot and managed to sink the 1 ball, solidifying that he was going to be going after the solid as she went after the stripes. He watched her for a moment as he moved around to go after the next ball. He wasn't sure if he was going to say anything about her odd behavior at first, but then the words came tumbling out of his mouth before he could stop himself. "You were kind of quiet during dinner," he remarked. "More so than usual." He gave a teasing smile, hoping to ease the tension. "In fact, I don't think I've ever heard you so quiet since I met you." He looked at her and she just looked back at him, her eyes hard. "Seriously," he aimed for his second ball, but missed. "Is something wrong?"

"When is something _not_ wrong with me?" Riley asked vaguely as she took her shot. She smiled a little as she managed to get it in. Kendall made a face, not knowing how to answer the question. He knew it was a ploy, she had a habit of asking him vague questions, silently taunting him for an answer, to see if he was the kind of person to stand up to a challenge or back down. And in this case, the challenge was getting her to open up to him. When he didn't answer fast enough she just sighed. "Nothing that's too important for you to get worried about." She commented

"Too late." Kendall said simply.

"Thanks." Riley replied, getting another ball in.

"No problem," Kendall shrugged modestly. The two continued to go around as they took their shots, trying to get to the point that they could try and sink the 8 ball for the win, but it was moving slowly. As they went around, Kendall couldn't help but think back to the CD they were working on. _Are we really going to get this done in time? And if so, will our fans really like it? We're taking a huge risk here, I don't know if it'll work._

"I'm just thinking about random stuff," Riley said after a moment, getting Kendall's attention again. He looked up at her before slowly standing up from his position to try and take a corner pocket shot. "Mostly about our music and some of the new songs that we're working on, and then about your guys' stuff too." She raised and lowered her right shoulder before resting her cue stick against her side. "No big deal."

"Oh, well," Kendall leaned back down to take the shot. "Thanks for sharing."

"Mhm," Riley suddenly reached up and scratched her forehead, effectively hiding her face. "You know, you guys can do anything you put your minds to." Kendall gave her a confused look. "I could see the question in your face," she explained. "If there's one thing that you have to remember, it's that no matter what happens we're always behind you guys to help any way we can."

Knowing that there was something else that she wanted to say, Kendall stood up and rested his pool cue against the ground, waiting for it. Riley looked away for a moment, her eyes moving over to her siblings; an expression of sadness crossing her face. But it was gone when she turned back to Kendall.

"Just don't get too used to the job; it can all be taken away in a moment." She motioned back to the table. "Take your shot, Hockey-Head."

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><p>Ronan turned away from his computer, biting his lower lip in worry as he turned to the piles of papers in front of him. He frantically pushed a few of them aside, looking for a specific sheet, little sounds of frustration coming out of his mouth when he couldn't find it quickly.<p>

_And I thought that Gustavo was having problems. _Letting out a growl, he turned back around, closed his laptop with a firm push of his hand and ran his hands over his face. _This __can't__ be happening._

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><p><strong>AN: **Whew, another chapter down. I hope you guys liked it and I'll update again soon. Most of this chapter didn't really come out the way I wanted it to, but I needed to show a bit romance so there's some PatKatNo, Kiley, and Lella moments in this chapter for those that were waiting for it. Ok, after this chapter things pick up and the angst and drama and everything starts then. I alluded to it at the end of the BTR/DE part of the chapter, but I'm not sure that you guys could figure out what it was. I might have made it a big too vague. Things pick up in the next chapter as well. Also, I'm sorry this chapter was so dialogue driven, I'm working on it as the story goes on.

Cheers,

-Riles


	10. Crazy Little Thing

**.:Chapter Ten – Crazy Little Thing:.**

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><p>"Camille, are you sure that you don't want to come to the mall?" Stephanie's voice came over Camille's phone, which was put on speaker. Camille was sitting at her desk, looking at her reflection in the mirror that was mounted over it, mentally repeating lines to herself, a script sitting upside down on the desk top. Her concentration was broken when she could hear a little scuffle and Jo's voice came onto the line.<p>

"Yeah, at Forever 21, they have these _ca-ute _summer dresses on sale and we really need to get them!" Jo said, knowing that the idea of a sale would grab Camille's attention and probably bring her along with them.

Camille let out a soft groan of disappointment as she pushed herself away from her desk in her rolling chair and over to her bed, where her iPhone was laying. She picked it up and held it to her mouth as she rolled back over to her desk. "You know that I want to go, guys, but I have an audition and I need to leave early or else I'll be late." She rolled her eyes. "You haven't been here as long as I have, but LA traffic sucks, no matter what time of day."

"No, I got used to that pretty quickly," Jo said, sounding a little bit sarcastic. "You should have seen the traffic back in North Carolina, especially after it snowed. It was _bad_."

"Yeah, well, just bring me something back if you can," Camille said as she picked up her script ant studied the monologue that she had prepared for the audition that afternoon. Her hands shook slightly as she put it back down on her desk, closing her eyes and mentally running through her eyes once more. "Besides, you can bring Riles and Rhubes with you. As much as they say that they hate shopping, you know they have fun."

"Yep," Jo replied and Camille could practically see the smile on her face. "I just have to get them to admit it at least once, so I can have it down in writing and use it against them when I need it." She let out a laugh and Camille could hear Stephanie laughing in the background as well.

"Are you sure you can't come?" Stephanie asked, taking the phone back from Jo. "It won't be the same without all of us there?"

"Yeah, I'm sure." Camille twirled her wavy hair around her finger. "Besides, since my car is out of commission at this point, Wally is driving me over and if I cancelled on him now, he'd be mad." She looked up as Mr. Roberts knocked on the door and pushed it open, waving a hand at her. Camille lifted her head and waved a hand back before flashing the peace sign, letting him know that she was only going to be two minutes. "Anyway, I have to get going, he's going to be here soon."

"Alright, see you later, girlie." Stephanie said with a short sigh. "I'll take lots of pictures." She promised.

"When _don't _you?" Camille laughed. "If you're not taking pictures for no reason, you have your video camera permanently glued to your hand, taping us when we don't want it." She shook her head, thinking of her friend's antics. "Later, tell the others I said 'hi'."

Camille hung up her phone and grabbed her purse with her free hand. She dropped her phone into her purse and shoved her script in it as well before grabbing her apartment key in her fee hand. Pushing her purse up her shoulder, she left her room, being sure to turn off the lights, before walking out into the main area of the apartment.

"Wish me luck, Dad." Camille said as she stood on her tip-toes to kiss her father on the cheek.

"Luck," Mr. Robert replied with a loving smile before kissing her on the head. "But you don't need it," he reached down and gently held onto her arms as Camille smiled up at him. "You know you're going to get the part. Your mother wishes you luck, by the way." Camille's smile widened at the thought. But when she saw the hesitant look on her father's face, she knew what he was going to say next. "But you know…if you get the part, you're going to have to tell your friends you're leaving."

Camille sighed as she lowered her head, looking at her feet. It was the role of a lifetime, she knew that and everyone that was going to try out for it knew it, but it wasn't something that she could pass up. Even if that meant having to leave her best friends to continue to do what she wanted to do.

_How do the guys do this all the time? Make so much music and then continuously go off and tour and be away from friends for so long. _Camille shook her head.

"We'll deal with it if I get the part." She said quietly.

"No," Mr. Roberts shook his head gently. "_When_ you get the part." He reminded her.

Camille stayed silent for a few moments, many thoughts running through her head. Finally, she lifted her head, pulling her long wavy hair back into a ponytail with a few quick flips of her wrist. "Right," she agreed weakly. "When I get the part." She heard her phone buzzing and hurried reached into her purse to pull it out. "Oh, that's Wally," she said, glancing at the screen. "I have to go." She moved forward and gave her father another hug. "Bye, Dad."

"Bye." Mr. Roberts waved as Camille hurried out of the apartment and won to the PalmWoods lobby. She glanced at Bitters' desk, glad to see that he wasn't there, and started running across the lobby. She was going to be late if she didn't move as fast as she could, and she knew that one of Bitters' rules was that you weren't supposed to run around the PalmWoods lobby. It wasn't implemented until the guys had moved in.

Camille grinned as she hurried out into the parking lot and into WayneWayne's waiting car. _The guys have really changed the way things work around here. Things were definitely boring when they aren't around. _Camille dropped her purse into the backseat before tucking her legs into the space in front of the passenger seat and closing the door. "Hey," she flashed a smile at WayneWayne as she put on her seatbelt. "Thanks for taking me to my audition."

"It's no problem at all," WayneWayne replied with a smile as he pulled out of the PalmWoods parking lot and heading out onto the highway. He paused. "Well, it won't be a problem if I don't have to worry about traffic too much, but you're my best friend so, why wouldn't I help?"

Camille laughed as she shook her head. "Can you _believe_ that Magic Middle School still airs on TV early in the morning?" She placed her hands over her face as the two of them started laughing. "I can hardly watch that show without cringing every time I come on screen."

"Well, if you weren't on the show, we wouldn't have met." WayneWayne reminded her. He suddenly looked serious as he glanced over his shoulder before changing lanes, picking up speed as he did so. "By the way, thanks for trying to help me with the guys and everything," he shrugged, seemingly uncomfortable. "If it wasn't for you and the Jacksons I wouldn't be friends with Kendall and them right now."

Camille shrugged back. "Don't worry about it. I would do it for anyone, but you should feel lucky because you're my best friend," she reached out and lightly shoved him on the arm. "So you don't need to thank me."

WayneWayne slowly nodded.

Camille pulled her script out of her purse and kicked off her sandals, lifting her feet and resting them on the dashboard as she scanned the sheets of paper once again. They stayed silent on the way to the audition, WayneWayne focusing on the road and Camille studying her script as much as possible. She had never worried about auditions much before. Granted, she got nothing but rejection from them, but this one, she was very nervous. After getting countless advice from friends back home and her friends in LA, she was going to try and tone down her antics for this one. Besides, it was a more, subtle-dramatic role than she had ever done before and she _really _wanted this part. It would make her feel like she had some sort of success in her life.

Camille had never pegged herself to be a jealous person, but it was hard _not_ to be jealous when all of her friends were so successful. Two bands, one teen icon, an actor that was starting to become a director/writer, a cinematographer, and an actress/singer, and she hadn't gotten any jobs since she was 12 years old. It was a wonder that she hadn't been kicked out of the PalmWoods yet. But her mother and father were so supportive in her dream that they continued to pay the rent for the apartment and _would_ continue to pay the rent until she said that she didn't want to do it anymore. But acting was her dream and she wasn't going to give it up anytime soon.

For the next hour and a half that it took to get through LA traffic (which made Camille glad that she thought of leaving very early so she wouldn't be late) Camille continued to run over her lines, in her head and out loud. She got WayneWayne to act along with her when they were at a standstill in traffic and she was starting to feel very confident about it, even more so than the other auditions that she had gone to. But that didn't quench her nerves. When they had gotten to the audition and were waiting for Camille's name to be called, she got up and went back and forth to the water fountain 10 times, she continuously checked her watch and her phone, she cracked her knuckles, and she crossed and uncrossed her hands. Anything to keep moving.

"Cammie," WayneWayne reached out and grabbed onto her hands as she started to crack her knuckles once more. "You're starting to drive me crazy, relax." He crossed his arms over his chest and crossed his legs as well, looking around the room, lowering his voice. "To be honest, I don't even see why you're so nervous; you have this in the bag."

_Yeah, but you're not the one that's going to leave if I get the part. _Camille ran her hands over her face, careful not to mess up her makeup. _You're not the one that's going to have to start all over again, making new friends, having to get a new house, having to leave everything behind._

"Camille Roberts?"

Camille's head snapped up and she leapt to her feet, grabbing her purse. "Yes? I'm here!" She said breathlessly before waling over to the lady that had her head poking out of the room that the auditions were being held in.

"I'm Jill the casting agent," the woman held out her hand. "Thanks for coming, come on in." She took a step back, holding out her arm and allowed Camille to walk into the room. "You can put your bag here," she tapped a spot on a desk as she moved over to a camera that was set up in the room. "And stand on that 'x' right there." She pointed with her free hand to a spot on the floor in front of a giant screen made out of blue paper.

Camille did as she was told and quickly fixed her hair before walking over to the 'x' and standing on it. She took a few quick breaths and waited for Jill to set up the camera and give her thumbs up before moving through her lengthy monologue. She recited each word perfectly, knowing it by heart at this point, but she was still nervous. Throughout her audition, she had thousands of thoughts running through her head.

_Am I speaking too fast? Am I speaking too slowly? I hope I'm enunciating. I think I just slurred my words together. Oh, I hope I get the part; I really, really want this. But...I don't' want to leave my friends…but this is a role of a __lifetime__._

Camille was so wrapped up in her thoughts that she was started when Jill called her name again. Camille raised her eyebrows, letting the older woman know that she had her attention. Jill smiled and sat down at the edge of the desk, pushing the camera to the side for a moment.

"Camille, I see on your resume that you've auditioned for a lot of parts but you didn't get it." She said gently. "Why do you think that is?"

"Uh," Camille rubbed her arm as she grinded the tip of her toe into the carpet. "Well, my friends say that I get a bit overly dramatic with everything. Some of my special effects that I've used to make sure that I had a memorable auditions didn't help much either, I guess." She bit her bottom lip as she waited for Jill to say something, but she continued to smile. "So…I didn't get the part?" she ventured to ask, sounding like a little girl that was asking for her punishment after she was caught doing something wrong.

"I didn't say that," Jill said warmly. "You're just too tense; you want things so badly that you can't allow yourself to relax." She reached behind her and opened a desk drawer, looking at Camille out of the corner of her eye as she slowly pulled out a thing, white object. She closed the drawer and turned around, slowly handing the object out to Camille, who hesitantly took it. "That should calm you down a bit."

Camille stared at the object in her hand, not sure what to do or say. She didn't think that she would ever be offered a joint in her life. She was sure to always stay away from that sort of things at parties and any other social gathering, since it was rampant in LA. But now here she was, holding one between her fingers, and she didn't know what to do with it.

"Your audition was _really _good Camille," Jill continued, not noticing Camille's discomfort. "I still have to go over this with the producer of the show, and I shouldn't be telling you this," she lowered her voice as she leaned forward. "I think that you have the part in the bag."

"Oh," Camille lifted her eyes away from the joint and smiled, feeling excitement burst through her body. "Thank you, thank you so much." Jill moved towards her and gave her a hug and Camille gave her a lackluster one in reply. "I'm glad you liked it."

"I loved it." Jill corrected her. She gave Camille a wink. "Don't be surprised if you get that call later today."

Camille smiled back and moved over to her purse, quickly dropping the joint inside. She then grabbed her purse and hitched it up over her shoulder, quickly walking out of the room and closing the door behind her. WayneWayne stood up as soon as he noticed her and grabbed her arm, pulling her away from the others that were waiting, only speaking when they were walking back to his car, just in case he was going to jinx her. It was her weird superstition, if she said anything about her audition before she left the building, she wouldn't get the part. Well…so far it didn't make a difference with her track record, but ever had a superstition about something at some point.

"So, how'd it go?" WayneWayne asked eagerly as he got into the driver's seat. "What'd she say?"

"She said, in no uncertain terms, that I got the part." Camille replied slowly. It still hadn't hit her yet. She had the part; she was going to be in one of the biggest movies that anyone could think of, with some of the biggest stars that anyone has ever heard of before.

"That's awesome!" WayneWayne leaned over and gave her a hug, grinning like a fool when he pulled back. "Seriously, Camille, that's amazing!" He glanced at her purse. "Aren't you going to call your dad and our friends?"

Camille quickly shot her head down to look at her purse, her heart starting to pound in her chest. She knew what was in there, lying at the bottom of her bag. That thought alone, even if she wasn't going to use it, was enough to drive her crazy. _I don't know how anyone's going to react if they find out that she gave it to me…I'll just wait and flush it later. They don't have to know about it._

"No," she replied slowly, moving her purse to her feet. "I'll just tell them in person." She flashed him a smile. "Give them a little bit of suspense." She put on her seatbelt as WayneWayne started the car. "I'm kind of hungry." She mused out loud.

WayneWayne chuckled as he turned on the turn signal, backing out of his parking space. "McDonald's it is, then."

Camille finally gave a bright smile. "You know me so well."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **So, I wanted a chapter that showed a bit of everyone, after the past few ones, but I then got an idea for Camille's drama, so that's why, like Jo, she got her own chapter. It'll show her crazy acting antics again soon (I'm going to have her slapping a lot of people :))I also don't know why it's kind of short, it seemed longer in my head, but…Chapters will get longer. Sorry that it took so long for the alcohol/drug thing to be brought up, of course it's not the end of it. ;) Also, let me know what you guys would like to see more of as the story goes on.

Cheers,

-Riles


	11. Cause We All Fall Down PART I

**.:Chapter Eleven – Cause We All Fall Down PART 1:.**

* * *

><p>Dak slid sunglasses over his face as he turned off his Black Dodge Hemi Ram. He had barely pulled the keys out of the ignition by the time that Lizzie had flung open the passenger side door and bounced out of the car, slamming it shut behind him. Dak gave Lizzie an odd look through the front windshield as she hurried into the PalmWoods.<p>

"I have to stop letting her drink so much Red Bull," he muttered to himself as he grabbed his wallet off of the dashboard. With both objects in his hand, he slid out of the driver's seat and closed the door shut, locking the car behind him.

"Or, you know, not do anything," WayneWayne said from where he was leaning against the car, looking at him with an amused look. "Considering she's a girl, she's bound to have as much energy as the Energizer Bunny." He scratched the back of his neck. "At least until she turns 18 or so."

"That didn't help your sisters any," Dak returned.

"Good one." WayneWayne smiled and pushed himself off of the car, following Dak inside the PalmWoods.

He always felt a little weird when he went back to the PalmWoods. The last time he had been there, he had been there as his bad boy persona and it all fell apart. He looked around as the two entered through the double doors. Everyone turned to look at them, and he was sure it was because people had recognized Dak. They seemed to flock all over him no matter where he went. It wasn't that he was jealous, that was _far_ from the truth. It was that he didn't know how to act when he was waiting for Dak to stop signing autographs or take pictures, and then he always got stuck in "teen icon mode" as Riley had dubbed it, where he seemed to be condescending towards everyone was around him.

"Hey," WayneWayne winced and gave a half smile as the Jennifers walked up in front of him. He stopped short, being careful not to crash into them. Jennifer 1 flipped her blonde hair over her shoulder as she looked hard at him behind his sunglasses. "You're that WayneWayne guy aren't you?"

"Uh," WayneWayne shifted his eyes to the side and looked to Dak for help, not really knowing what to do in that situation. But to his dismay and slight amusement, he found his friend being stopped by Bitters, who seemed to be begging him for another autograph. "Yeah, I am."

"Ew," Jennifer 2 exchanged glances with the other two Jennifers. "What happened to you?" she wrinkled her nose as she looked him and up and down. "You used to be so hot, now you're so…"

"Not!" Jennifer 3 added. "You used to be the big man on campus around here." Her upper lip curled. "So to speak. Then you, like, disappeared. Now you look all…commoner." She shrugged. "Maybe hanging out with Big Time Rush will help your street cred. Not by much, but a little, since they're starting to get bigger."

"Thank You." WayneWayne deadpanned, scratching the back of his head. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go-"

"You know what you could do?" Jennifer 1 spoke again. WayneWayne sighed and scratched his forehead as he waited for her to continue. "You could bring Dak around here more often; we could use some better looking guys to hang out with." Her upper lip curled. "All we have is Guitar Dude, that short little fat kid and Big Time Rush. They're ok, but not up to our standards." She flipped her hair again.

"Of course," WayneWayne said, although he held a sarcastic tone. "'Cause everyone knows that the only reason of staying in the PalmWoods is to hang out with and flirt with the most attractive people here." He rolled his eyes. "Instead of, you know, working."

"_Now_ you're getting it." Jennifer 3 cooed. She stepped forward and wrapped her arm around WayneWayne's and then turned him so they were both looking at him as he signed a stack of pictures as Bitters was leaning over his desk, instructing him what to write as he did so. WayneWayne tried not to laugh out loud as his friend's misfortune. If there was ever a time he looked annoyed by having been stopped by a fan, it was now. "You see, Dak has it all. The looks, the talent, the job, the car," she paused. "Although I don't know why he would want to drive a truck when he can drive almost every other car on the planet."

"Anyway," Jennifer 2 gave an impatient sigh. "If you want to have a shot with us again, you have to act more like him. He hangs out with you and Big Time Rush, and…" she made a face as if she had smelled something foul. "The DarkElements." She must have noticed WayneWayne's offended look as she continued quickly. "There's nothing wrong with them, they're really cool, but the fact that they wear black so much is _so _depressing."

"If it wasn't that they never followed the rules, they wouldn't be that interesting anyway." Jennifer 3 sighed.

"Yeah." Jennifer 1 agreed, shaking her head in a 'that's so sad' sort of way.

"Anyway, he hands out with them and his street cred just grows, we can't explain it." Jennifer 2 tilted her head to the side and smiled coyly. "If you want to be accepted around here again, then you should learn some things from him."

"Thanks for your input." WayneWayne gently pushed Jennifer 3's hand off of his arm and took a few steps back. "But I think I can handle this on my own." He looked over the three of them. "Besides, at least I have them all as my friends, rather than you three, who only hang out with each other and can't function when you're alone." He gave a smile.

The Jennifers glared at him before walking by him and out of the PalmWoods. Moving faster than their normal slow pace would allow them to go. But, of course, he still looked better than any girl at the PalmWoods could hope to be.

WayneWayne rolled his eyes and walked over to the manager's desk, resting his elbows on the counter as he stared at the dwindling pile of papers that Dak was signing. At that point, he was just scribbling things that didn't even resemble words.

"And this one for my great-great aunt," Bitters said as Dak slid another piece of paper by. "And this one for my great-great uncle and this one for my cousin three times removed." Dak finished signing his last sheet of paper and slapped the pen down onto the top of the desk.

"There, that's your whole extended family," Dak said through gritted teeth. "And your ex-girlfriends, although I think you're lying about that point." He added pointedly. "I hope that is _everything_ that you need, because I'm late to meeting my friends."

"That should be about everything," Bitters replied as he grabbed the papers and started to tap them onto the desk top, to make them all neat. "They should go for a lot on the internet and I should make a couple thousand quick bucks." He held out his hand towards Dak, who rolled his eyes. "Have a PalmWoods Day."

"You too," Dak replied shortly, not moving to shake his hand. He tossed his head back towards WayneWayne, letting him know to follow him and they headed over towards the stairs. Dak rubbed the palm of his hands. "I don't think I've ever had my hand cramp up so much." He groaned.

"Oh, don't be such a baby about it," WayneWayne said as he reached out, shoving him on the shoulder so hard that it sent him into the wall. He grinned as Dak shot him a look. "You're going to have to get used to it if you want to continue working on Broadway and all that."

"Yeah, yeah," Dak rolled his eyes. "What did the Jennifers want?"

"What do you think?" WayneWayne shook his head. He hesitated for a moment. "They were just commenting on how I want form a 'bug stud' around here to basically nothing." He used air quotes around the words. "As if I care what a bunch of overly-snooty girls care about who I hang out with or what I look like."

"Then why does it bother you?" Dak asked. "I know it does. I 'm your best friend." He paused. "I don't know _why_ I am, you're annoying, loud, have an odd obsession with movies, your talk too much-"He let out a cry as he was, this time, forcibly shoved into the wall. WayneWayne let out a whooping laugh as he raced all the way to apartment 2J.

He quickly hurried inside and slammed the door shut behind him, pressing his back against it, laughing as he did so.

"What's so funny?" Jo asked as everyone looked up from what they were doing, all crowded around in apartment 2J.

"Nothing, I just pushed Dak through a wall," WayneWayne replied as he hopped over the back of the couch and fell into the empty space beside Carlos, Stephanie, and Camille. "That reminds me, not that it matters much, but the Jennifers said that you guys are terrible to hang out with." He placed his hands behind his head as he crossed his legs. "Which I already knew, but still."

"You're terrible, you know that." Camille said as she reached out and slapped him on the stomach.

"_We_ already knew that, but still." Kendall returned and gave a bright smile as WayneWayne flipped him off. He looked up as Dak walked into the apartment, rubbing his shoulder and shooting WayneWayne and dirty look. "Hey Dak, what's up?"

"My blood pressure," Dak replied with a sigh as he lowered his arm. "Biters caught me and started to get me to sign almost everything that he had behind his desk." He walked into the room and sat down on the floor amongst his friends. "Now he's going to turn around and sell them to anyone that he could think of."

"That's the breaks, Teen Icon, you have to get used to it eventually." Patrick said with a sympathetic smile and a shrug. "You know how fans can be."

Dak nodded as he continued to rub his shoulder. Having been in LA since he was 6 he had seen it all. Fans that got so worked up when they saw you that they started crying, some that got so excited when they saw him that they ripped his clothes just to grab a piece of him, those that invaded his personal space, those that seemed to stalk him back home, the ones that put so much guilt on him when they sent him letters saying that he was the one that helped him get through their depression. Fame was a tricky thing to deal with when you were in LA, and he was still trying to figure out how it all worked.

"That reminds me," Dak tilted his head back and looked at all of his friends. "I'm having a party tonight and you guys are all invited." He scratched the side of his neck. "Our parents are out tonight and we'll have the whole place to ourselves. I'm inviting, like, everyone, so it should be fun." He turned to shoot Lizzie a look.

She looked back at him and then lowered her gaze to the floor, lightly running her hands over the ridges in the hardwood floor. Katie noticed her look and tried to catch her gaze, but Lizzie looked away. _That's really weird; I wonder what's going on._

"Sounds like fun," Jo spoke up quickly. "I'll definitely be there!" She turned to Stephanie and Camille, her eyes widening with excitement. "And we can wear those new dresses that we got!" She started to speak rapidly in only the way that Jo could when she was very excited about something. "I'm going to wear the one that has that neckline that goes across right here." She made a slanting motion across her chest.

"Well," James gave a charming smile as he raised a hand in the air. "I'm definitely going for _that_!"

"Typical Handsome," Rhuben remarked with a smile and a slight roll of her eyes. "Very typical."

"You know it, Beautiful." James replied with a wink.

"Do you think your mom would let us go?" Logan asked, turning to Kendall with a questioning look in his eyes. "I mean, she's usually pretty cool with this kind of thing, going to parties and all. But…" he shrugged a little, looking worried. "It's a Hollywood party and she still doesn't know about the one that we threw."

Kendall thought for a moment, he was sure that his mom would be fine about the party, but not fine without adult supervision. It didn't help much that he still felt a little guilty for what happened at the Red Heat the last time they went out. But Kendall knew that Logan was asking about what had happened with Katie the last time. Kendall's upper lip curled at the memory. It still made him a little sick, having to think about his baby sister making out with some stranger like that. But looking around the room, he could already see that Carlos and James were rearing to go and have some fun.

"I'll talk to her about it," Kendall replied finally. "I don't think there'll be a problem."

"Cool," Dak rubbed his hands together and turned to Rhuben. "Do you-"

"No," Rhuben cut in quickly, no emotion in her voice or face at all. "I'm not going to be your date to your party."

Dak blinked. "That's not what I was going to ask." He replied shortly. Logan snorted and Riley raised an eyebrows. "Ok," he relented after a second. "I was going to ask that." He shook his head. "But not now, I was going to ask if you guys could make it after your music video shoot."

"We would if we were doing a video shoot this weekend," Sydney replied, shaking his head. He turned to Big Time Rush. "Sorry guys, but Ronan forgot that we're going to his mother's house for dinner today and we _have_ to go."

"You make it sound like it's going to be that bad." Stephanie said as she leaned against Carlos' side, slowly shaking her head.

"Trust us, it's _that_ bad." Riley said before turning to Dak. "We'll try to make it, but it might be really late, they like to talk and talk and talk."

"Hm," Dak smiled back. "Sounds like someone else I know."

* * *

><p>"This party is awesome!" Katie shouted over the music as she and Lizzie danced wildly in the Zevons' living room. She lifted her arms above her head and waved them back and forth along to the beat of the music. Lizzie smiled and nodded back as she continued to dance as well.<p>

The Zevon house had been filled with people ever since the party started about three hours ago. Now at 11:30 it was still in full swing. When Kendall, Logan, Carlos, James, Katie, Jo, Camille, and Stephanie had arrived, there were people spilling out into the streets. Kendall took one look at the massive crowds of people as they had walked up the driveway and knew that if his mother was there she would have a heart attack. It took him a while to convince her to let them to go and he promised that they would be able to handle everything,

Now he wasn't so sure.

Three hours later and he could definitely say that things had gone out of control and Dak was nowhere in sight. When he wasn't constantly looking for Katie, to be sure that everything was ok with her, he was looking for his friends so they could get back to the PalmWoods in time for his mother's curfew. He had to admit that he was having a good time though, the music was loud and crazy, just like he liked it and everyone was dancing with each other, even if it they didn't know each other.

"Are you ok?" Jo asked, leaning close to him so he could hear her over the music that they were dancing to. "You've been looking around like crazy for the past ten minutes." She looked to the side and found Katie and Lizzie dancing and lightly shoved Kendall on the arm. "You need to relax, she's fine."

"Kind of hard to relax when there are so many people you don't know around." Kendall replied as he continued to dance. "Sorry, but ever since we were at the club, I've been a bit more protective than usual." He noticed the smile leave Jo's face as she looked down at her feet. "Is something wrong?"

"No," Jo lifted her head and smiled. "Not at all." She turned her head and pointed over to Logan and Camille. "They look like they're really getting along." She said with a mischievous smile.

Kendall followed her finger and smiled when he saw Logan and Camille dancing with each other. She, in her usual overly-dramatic fashion, was practically throwing Logan around the dance floor. It didn't help much that Logan wasn't that great a dancer as it was in the first place. He looked like a rag doll.

"I think Camille's at least having a good time." Kendall laughed back. He tilted his head and looked behind Jo. "Hey, isn't that the guy from the club that you were talking to?" He asked as he pointed.

Jo turned around and her heart sank when she spotted Jett heading their way through the crowd of dancing bodies. "Yeah, that's Jett." She replied, turning back to Kendall. "If I get the part on New Town High, he's going to be my co-star." She pulled her hair back behind her shoulders. "I still have a few more callbacks to get through; it's between me and a few other girls." She replied and then sighed. "He might want to talk to me about the part."

"I'll leave you alone so you guys can talk then," Kendall said as he stopped dancing, wiping sweat off of his forehead. "I'm sure Logan needs me to rescue him anyway."

"No, Kendall, wait." Jo tried to grab onto his hand but Kendall moved out of earshot. She let out a sigh as Jett moved in front of her and gave her a smile. "Hey Jett," she greeted dully. "How are you?"

"Jett's doing great," he replied, his smile widening. "But you're going to feel even better, I heard the producers talking and they said that you're the one that's most likely to get the part on New Town High." He smiled as Jo's wary expression turned to one of full blown excitement.

"I am? Oh my god, I can't believe it!" She cried, clasping her hands together. "When do I start?"

"Let's go somewhere quiet to talk," Jett replied, moving closer to her. "I'll tell you everything that you need to know."

* * *

><p>"Thanks Kendall," Logan said, gasping for air as he and Kendall walked into the kitchen, which was less crowded than the other rooms of the house. He pulled out a stool and sat down, breathing heavily. "I don't' think that Camille would have ever stopped if you didn't tell her that James was looking for me." His eyes looked around the kitchen critically. "You'd figure that they wouldn't need a kitchen this big if only four people live here." He muttered under his breath.<p>

"Well, you were being thrown around like a ragdoll, what else was I going to do?" Kendall replied. He looked up as Carlos and Stephanie headed into the kitchen, looking happy as ever. "Well if it isn't the perfect couple." He said with a grin and slapped Carlos on the shoulder. "You guys having fun?"

"A blast!" Carlos replied, his eyes shining with excitement. "We need to come to more of these things," he moved over to the food that was sitting on the table and started to build a plate. "Ooh, shrimp!" He shoved one in his mouth and started chewing. "Did you guys know that Steph is an _amazing_ dancer?" He asked through a full mouth.

Stephanie blushed in embarrassment. "I'm not that good." She said modestly.

"Yes, she is." Carlos insisted. "I'm telling you, she can be in music videos."

"Maybe you'll consider doing that as well as filming," Logan suggested. "I mean, because you can do it in between your gigs." He popped a chip into his mouth. "It would be a good experience, and maybe you can film the one you're in? It would be good for your résumé."

"Leave it to Logan to think systematically even when he's at a party." Stephanie teased.

Logan laughed along with his friends as James strolled into the kitchen, looking proud. "Hey guys." He greeted them. "Guess who just made out with all _three_ Jennifers?" He puffed a breath of air on his knuckles and buffed them off on his shirt. "In case anyone doesn't know, it was me." He replied and gave Carlos a high-five.

"Were they blind?" Stephanie asked, tilting her head to the side. "Last I checked they wouldn't give any of you the time of day."

"Who cares?" James shrugged as his smiled widened. His hazel eyes flashed. "I'm the first one that managed to do it in one night. If I wake up dead tomorrow, at least I'll die happy." He slapped Kendall on the shoulder as he grabbed five cups and started to fill them with punch from the punch bowl. "Thanks for convincing Mama Knight to let us come." He finished fillings the cups and passed them out to his friends.

"No thanks," Stephanie shook her head and motioned to the diet coke in her free hand. "I'm covered."

James shrugged and poured it back into the punch bowl. "I think that we should celebrate. To going to our first official Hollywood party, to having a great career that's going to be even better with our new CD, and…everything else that I can think of."

"Cheers," the five of them said and clinked their drinks together before tilting their heads back and taking a sip.

Logan made a face as he swallowed a mouthful. "Is it supposed to have that aftertaste?" he asked.

"Yeah, I think that there's Pineapples in here." James replied as she spun the liquid in his cup, looking down in it.

Logan shrugged and took another mouthful.

* * *

><p>"Wow," Riley nodded a little as she and her siblings walked into Dak's house. "I don't' think I've ever seen it so crowded in here before." She ushered them all in before closing the door behind them. "I wonder where our friends are."<p>

"They might be in the kitchen or something," Patrick said as he looked around, licking his lips. "Which is where I'm gonna head first, 'cause I think I smell some sushi." He let out a gleeful laugh before pushing his way through the crowd as Sydney and Noah followed him.

"I'll keep an eye on him to make sure that they don't eat it all," Riley said to her twin as she rolled her eyes. Rhuben gave her a knowing look. "And of course I'm going to grab some so we can bring it home to Ronan and eat the rest ourselves."

"Of course," Rhuben replied with a smirk. She let out a breath, pushing her hair behind her ears as she started to wander around, looking for her friends. She had gone through the living room, the den, and the laundry room until she found Dak in his father's office, straightening up and talking to a tall red-head.

Rhuben watched them for a few moments before leaning forward and knocking on the door. Dak looked up and gave a smile as the girl walked out of the room, stumbling a little as she went. "Hey," Dak greeted as he picked up a picture frame and re-hung it on a wall. "I thought you guys were at dinner." He said, looking at his watch.

"Ah, we got done early and thought that we should drop by to see how things were going," she replied, crossing her arms over her chest as she ventured into the room. "Looks like we didn't miss much." She added.

"Just a bunch of idiots like usual." Dak replied with a short shrug.

"Like the girl that was just here?" Rhuben replied with a teasing smile. Dak gave her a look and her smile faded. "It's funny though," she commented, scratching her neck. "I didn't think that someone like that was your type." She said it in a casual conversational tone. If she had to guess, just by looking at her, the girl was probably one of his "groupies" as Sydney had dubbed it. The regular people that came to his parties just to see if they could say that they hung out with him all night long.

"Someone like what?" Dak asked as he turned his full attention to her, curious to hear her answer.

"Someone like—"Rhuben pursed her lips for a second as she thought of a nice way to say it. Sydney had made up the groupies joke to poke fun at his status in Hollywood and she knew that he would be a little mad if he told Dak, even if he was joking, just in case it upset him. "You know what I mean." Her eyes hardened a little. "She isn't exactly unattractive and she's…clingy."

"Clingy?" Dak repeated.

"Like socks out of a dryer," Rhuben retorted. She tilted her head. "You know what I mean."

Dak lost the tug-of-war with his smile. "You're jealous." He said bluntly.

Rhuben snorted as she turned way, looking over the different objects and books that were in the office. "I'm concerned about my image." She said. "Since you guys and BTR are part of it, sort of, what you do and with who affects it."

"And that's why you were spying on me?" Dak continued, nodding. "I saw you watching us in the doorway before you came in here." His smile never left his face.

"I'm just trying to protect my career." Rhuben said shortly.

Dak walked closer until he was beside her. "Is that what you're telling yourself?" She finally looked at him as he shook his head. "Why are you so afraid to be honest with yourself?" he asked.

"I'm not afraid." Rhuben retorted.

"Why can't you admit you're jealous? It's not a crime." He pointed out. He licked his lips. "There's something here," he pointed between himself and her. "And you know it."

Rhuben blinked and looked at him a split second longer before looking away, walking backwards, away from him. "Stop it, Dak. Leave things as they are." She stopped at the doorway. "We were looking for you just to say 'hi', but I think that we need to be leaving now."

Dak shrugged and turned off the light in the office, following her back into the party. He was going to drop it. For now. The two headed out into the living room and slowed a bit when they noticed a large circle gathered around something. The two exchanged glances before pushing their way through the crowd.

"What's going on?" Dak asked.

"My brother is acting like an _idiot_." Katie replied, shaking her head, although she looked worried as well.

Rhuben looked over at Riley and she knew that the two were thinking the same thing. They needed to get their brothers and get out of there as fast as possible. Kendall, Logan, Carlos, and James were undeniably drunk. From the way that they were stumbling around the place and laughing and talking to people loudly just said it all.

Riley looked around. Stephanie was trying to get Carlos to calm down so they could leave, but she didn't see Camille anywhere. WayneWayne was standing on the opposite side of the circle, looking like he didn't know what to do. The two locked eyes and he merely shook his head. Riley took a step back when Carlos noticed her and her siblings and waved wildly, stumbling across the room towards them.

She was hoping to God that he would walk by them all, and go bother someone else. She dug her nails into her sweaty palms, but her heart sank when he continued to shuffle closer. Beside her, Sydney made a whimpering sound and moved into Patrick's side as the two and Noah took a step back. Riley found her feet rooted to the floor by fear.

Carlos shuffled over, and stood unnecessarily close to Riley. He smelled putrid, reeking of whiskey, punch and sweat, so much so that she almost gagged. Without thinking, she sprang back away from him and behind/beside Noah, holding onto his arms tightly. Noah removed one arm from her grip and put it around her, holding onto her tightly, his hand shaking. She needed to feel safe and protected, and right now, this was her only option as it seemed like fear was holding Noah still as well. But her intoxicated friend noticed her sudden movement, and became immediately concerned.

"Wha…whattssaa matta?" he slurred. Riley didn't answer or look at him, she just kept her eyes squeezed shut. "Hey Riiiiiiley, I _said, _I said whattssaa matta?" He leaned in closer to her. She jerked away.

_"Where were you." Her eyes widened as her father stepped into the hallway, his face devoid of all human emotion._

_"I-I went to a- a friend's house. We-" He cut her off._

_"Come here." His voice was dead, and not for the first time she wondered if the day had finally come when he would kill her. She stepped closer, and didn't protest as he lifted his fist….._

_Robert was in the other room watching TV. Slowly and painfully, Riley forced herself to get up from the floor, wincing in agony. The bruises she could feel forming on her arms would be easy to hide, she'd just layer her shirts or wear long-sleeved shirts or cover it up with make-up. Easy. And the ones on her legs, she always wore long pants anyway. But she didn't know how she was gonna explain the ones on her face if the make-up didn't work. She clutched her stomach as she went the mirror to survey the damage, remembering how he had knocked the wind out of her on the first blow, causing her to gasp and choke as he continued the beating. _

_When she finally reached the hallway mirror, she analyzed herself with a remoteness that only came after years of exposure. Her face wasn't that bad, really. There was one nasty dark bruise swiftly forming on the right side of her chin, but other than that there were only a few scratches. He had probably been careful. The bruise on around her eye from yesterday was still colorful, but it didn't throb nearly as much as the new ones. At least the three new ones on her legs. There was no way she could hide the one on her face. _

_She wasn't even sure she could bring herself to touch it. She didn't bother to roll up her sleeves. She could tell already that both her arms would be completely black and blue. Her stomach probably had a nasty one too from that first blow. She winced as a tear streaked past the bruise on her face. Until she had felt the pain, she hadn't even realized she was crying._

"Carlos," Stephanie appeared at his side again, shooting the Jacksons a sympathetic glance as they continued to back away from their friends. "Come on, we can go somewhere and talk. There's still plenty of food." She said almost desperately. "We can keep dancing too. Let's just-"

"Let _go_ of me!" Carlos roughly shot out his arm and knocked Stephanie backwards, where she stumbled and fell to the floor.

Kendall, James, and Logan burst out into hysterical laughter as Stephanie slowly got to her feet, a strange look on her face. She slowly pushed her hair out of her face, swallowing thickly. Camille suddenly appeared at her side and Logan hurried over to her.

"Camille…Camille…you jusmissed Stephanie fall down." Logan said and started to laugh again as Camille looked horrified. "She just went-" he made a loud crashing sound, throwing up his arms, which caused him, James, and Kendall to start laughing again.

Dak finally came back to life, waving a hand in the air. "Hey, everyone, party's over! Get out and get out now! I don't care where you go, but you have to get the _hell_ out of here!" He ignored the groans of the people around him as they started towards the front door. He turned to speak to the Jacksons. "Guys, I'm _so_ sorry, someone must have spiked the punch and-"he stopped when he didn't see them. "Guys?" He let out a groan, slapping his hands over his face as he tilted his head back.

They were gone.

"Dak," Lizzie appeared at her side. "They just left, like, _really_ fast." She pointed in the direction of the front door. She looked like she was on the brink of tears. "And I don't know if they're _ever _gonna speak to us again. Dak, what are we going to do?"

"What do you think?" Katie snapped. "Get these idiots out of here and go home." She watched with disinterest as Kendall fell over the coffee table and lay on the ground, laughing so hard that he started to cough. "And fast."

* * *

><p>The alarm clock was going non-stop, when Carlos woke up the next day. Carlos groaned and covered his head with a pillow, but if anything that just makes him feel worse. He doesn't know how long the clock has been ringing, or even how long he's been awake. No, not awake. Conscious. He attempted to sit up in bed, but soon gave up. The pain has spread from his brain and now he felt sick, but not sick enough to run to the bathroom.<p>

'Hangover' seems like such a ridiculous word now, so inadequate, nowhere near enough to describe the state he's in. _Oh, what did I __do? _Carlos thought to himself with a light groan. The ringing faded away, or maybe his drink-addled mind has just forgot to hear it for a while... the air in the room is still humming though. It's a low vibration that echoed in his ears and his stomach.

"Turn off." Carlos took the pillow off of his head and sat up, only to groan and grab onto his head as his head exploded with pain. He opened one eye and looked over to see James sitting up in his bed, slapping away at the alarm clock. "Turn off!" James finally turned off the alarm and the two let out a sigh of relief.

Carlos slowly slid out of his bed and onto the floor where he sat for a few minutes before getting to his feet and stumbling out into the sitting area of apartment 2J. Kendall, Logan, and Katie were already up, sitting on the large orange couch. Carlos walked over and sat at the end of the couch. He looked over at Katie and looked down at his hands when he saw her glare.

"I can't believe you guys drank last night!" She spat and then turned to Kendall. "Especially _you_!"

"I know and I'm sorry," Kendall's head was tilted back, his eyes closed. "Do you have to yell so loud?"

"Does anyone else feel like they have a sock in their mouth?" James asked as he shuffled into the room and sat down next to Katie, dropping down carefully. "And why are we still alive? I figured that Mama Knight would have killed us."

"WayneWayne, Stephanie, Camille, and Jo helped you guys back here and keep you quiet enough so that mom didn't know." Katie replied, slowly shaking her head. "You were still asleep when she left to meet up with Gustavo, Kelly, and Ronan for a breakfast meeting."

"Katie," Kendall slowly lowered his head. "I know you're mad-"

"I'm disappointed, I'm not mad." Katie interrupted him. She sniffed a little as she crossed her arms over her chest. "I look up to you, Kendall. And you actually got drunk in front of me and our friends! You scared me last night, how could you do that?"

"I know, Katie, I know." Kendall said quietly. "It was stupid and dangerous and I'm _never _going to do it again."

"Promise?" Katie asked.

"Promise." Kendall replied.

"Promise." Logan agreed with a soft groan.

"Promise." James agreed.

"Promise." Carlos said, holding his hands over his face. "Oh, I don't remember anything. Did anything good even happen last night? All I can taste is seafood and let me tell you, that taste isn't so good right now." He lowered his hands to his stomach. "I think I'm going to puke."

"You did enough of that last night," Katie said as she walked over to the counter in the kitchen. She grabbed a notebook off of it. "When you guys got back, and before you started throwing up," she shuddered. "You got some more writing done, and with a few tweaks, I think you guys did a great job." She handed James the notebook and headed back into her room.

Logan took the notebook and looked over the pages of the song that they had been writing. He sat up straight (moving slowly) and continued to flip through it, his eyes widening as he continued to look over it. "Guys, this is great." He said with a smile.

"I think," Carlos smiled widely as he looked over the notebook, ignoring the pain that thudded through his head. He flipped it closed and pressed his hand firmly against the front. "Even though it was under the weirdest circumstances, I think we finished our first song!"

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **I know that I only talked about Ronan's parents very quickly, but you'll see them in an upcoming chapter. Next chapter will have more of the adults as well. I tried to show a little bit of everyone in this chapter, but I made it focus on Dak and WayneWayne as well as the boys because I hadn't shown them in a bit. What did you guys think about how I had the Jacksons react to BTR being drunk as well as the end of the chapter? I wasn't so sure about that part.

I don't know if you saw my tweet on twitter, but I'm going to be focusing on this story for a while. So more update quicker.

Cheers,

-Riles


	12. Music Sounds Better With U

**.:Chapter Twelve – Music Sounds Better With U:.**

* * *

><p>"Ugh, why do I have to eat <em>grapefruit?<em>" Gustavo grumbled as he picked at the pink/yellow fruit on his plate with a fork. His cheek was resting in his hand, and he looked even more depressed than a kid who had just had his favorite toy taken away. "It's probably the most disgusting food out there."

"As compared to what?" Ronan asked as he stabbed at his pile of scrambled eggs that was sitting on his plate.

"To the rest of the fruits and vegetables on this planet that people were stupid enough to create thinking that we would eat it and actually _like_ it." Gustavo said and pushed his plate away from him. He looked longingly around at Kelly's, Ronan's, and Kacy's plates, which were filled with his favorite breakfast items. He then looked back down at his grapefruit, half a bagel, and yogurt. "How come you guys get to eat all of that good stuff and I'm stuck eating this granola crap?"

"You were the one that said that you wanted to go on a diet." Kelly reminded him patiently, dabbing her mouth with her napkin. "And that's what you need to help fuel your body as you start working out at the gym more."

"What made you decide to lose weight anyway, Gustavo?" Kacy asked, crossing her ankles and smoothing out the napkin that was in her lap. "Not that there's anything wrong with it, I think it's a good idea If you're doing it in a safe way. But not everyone can just wake up and say 'I'm going to lose weight'."

Gustavo hesitated as he went back to picking at his fruit. It wasn't any of their business what was going on with his father and he wasn't going to burden them with his problems either. He had always been a quiet guy, in the sense that he kept to himself, and since he never opened up to Big Time Rush and he wasn't used to having friends to open up to, he wasn't going to start now. His dad's cancer wasn't their business. He wasn't going to talk about it, no matter how estranged their relationship was.

"I just had an epiphany one day," Gustavo replied with a short shrug. "I needed to be healthier, so the best way to do it than start lifting weights and go on a diet."

"Well if you ever want someone to work out with, let me know." Ronan said as he finished everything on his plate and pushed it aside, grabbing his coffee mug as he did so.

"Your sarcasm isn't appreciated, McGuire." Gustavo said as he reached out and started to peel his grapefruit, pouting as he did so. "I hate grapefruit." He muttered under his breath, his pout deepening. Kelly rolled her eyes.

"I wasn't being sarcastic," Ronan replied, shaking his head. "I work out like, every morning before I got to work." He shrugged. "It's the only motivation that I have to have put a private gym in my record company." He reached over and slapped Gustavo on the shoulder. "So if you need any help, I can get my private trainer to work with you as well."

"Private trainer huh?" Kelly's eyebrows rose. "I didn't peg you as the kind of guy that would need a private trainer."

"Or one that works out obsessively," Kacy added with a teasing lift in her voice.

"It's only obsessive if you get to James' level." Ronan replied as he pushed his chair back and stretched out his long legs. "That's what you get for having lived in LA for so long; unfortunately you get sucked into some of the fads around here. But the personal trainer has helped me a lot."

"Didn't we come here to talk about the boys and their music and everything?" Gustavo demanded. He opened his mouth and slid in a piece of grapefruit. He chewed for a few seconds and then nodded a little. "Not bad." He turned to Kacy. "I don't like that you let them go to that party last night. You don't know what can happen at Hollywood parties. I need their focus to be on their music 100%."

"Gustavo," Kacy replied patiently. "_I'm_ their manager. I get to tell them what they can and can't do and when." She folded her hands across her lap as she gave him a chilly stare. "And with how hard they've been worked for the past year and how hard you're already working them on their second album, they need to have some time to have fun."

"_Fun_ is when their CD goes platinum." Gustavo replied sharply, backing down a little but under her cold stare.

"Fun is being able to go to parties or the beach and hang out with friends and date." Kacy replied, shaking her head. "Which reminds me, I think that we should re-think some of the rules that Robert made up when he was still the DarkElements' manager."

"I was thinking the same thing," Kelly nodded. "Kacy and I were talking about this before-"

"Of course." Ronan snorted. "Women usually make a decision about something before they even talk to the men about it." He chuckled as Gustavo made a grunting sound of agreement, still eating his grapefruit.

"Excuse me?" Kelly's eyes narrowed dangerously. "What's _that _supposed to mean?"

"Nothing," Ronan immediately backed down. He wasn't stupid, he knew when he overstepped his boundaries, and he knew very well not to overstep them when you use men vs. women debate to prove his point.

"That's what I though." Kelly smiled. She turned in her seat to grab her purse as her phone started to ring. She pulled it out and looked at the ID for a moment before answering. "Rocque Records, Kelly Wainright speaking." She paused for a moment, her eyes widening a little bit. "You did? You guys really finished it?" She turned to Gustavo and started to slap him on the arm.

"Ow! Ow! Ow!" Gustavo turned and started to slap Kelly on the arms in retaliation. "Stop slapping me!"

"The boys finished the song," Kelly said, placing her hand over the phone and turning to Gustavo. "And they're going to Rocque Records to record it. They want us to hear them sing it now, so they know if they need to fix or change anything else before it's completely done."

Gustavo blinked once before leaping out of his chair. "To Rocque Records!" He declared before lurching away from the table, knocking a passing waiter down.

"Boys, we're on our way." Kelly said into her phone before grabbing her purse and hurrying after her partner.

"Something tells me that we're going to be banned from this restaurant as well," Kacy sighed as she started to gather her things as Ronan called a waiter. "I think we're really starting to rack up a list, this'll be the fifth time."

"Hm," Ronan finished his coffee. "The fifth time since _you've_ been here, you mean." He corrected her. "But, hey, maybe you and I should just go out together next time. That way we know that we'll be in good company and we don't have to worry about anyone yelling at us." He grabbed the check from their waiter when he walked over and looked over the bill. "What?" he asked when he noticed Kacy's staring at him. He placed 80 dollars on the table and started to write a note on a napkin.

"A-are you asking me out?" Kacy asked, pausing as she pulled her purse over her shoulder.

Ronan tossed a 20 dollar bill onto the table as a tip before standing up, sliding his wallet back into his pocket. Finally, he lifted his gaze and smiled at Kacy. "If I were asking you out, you wouldn't have to ask me to be sure that I was." He replied. "You'd know for sure."

* * *

><p>"Where are the guys?" Carlos asked as he looked at his watch before leaning over to look at the doorway to the recording studio. "I called and left a message an hour ago, I figured they would have been here by now." He paused and turned to his best friends. "You don't think that something happened to them at the party last night, do you?" He shook his head and lowered his voice, making sure that none of the adults could hear him from where they were sitting around the sound board, talking to each other. "I don't remember anything after drinking that punch."<p>

"I don't remember anything either," James said as he shook his head. "It's all so foggy." He then slowly started to smile. "But I remember making out with the Jennifers, who could forget that?"

"Trust you to think that that's the most important thing to worry about." Logan muttered, rolling his eyes.

Katie sighed, scratching her forehead. "I wasn't going to mention this, because I thought that you were all going to remember it yourselves and try to fix it." She wrung her hands together before a hard look crossed her face and she crossed her arms over her chest. "You idiots got drunk and then scared the crud out of them when _you_," she motioned to Carlos. "Got too close. They ran out of there so fast I thought their feet were going to burst into flames."

The four boys groaned as they held their hands over their faces. Carlos leaned forward and rested his forehead against his knees, squeezing his eyes shut. He felt so bad that his heart actually started to hurt. Their former foster father, Robert, had only been taken to court and sentenced to jail a few months before. They couldn't stand the sight of beer and went off on someone whenever they talked about drinking in general. Now they had made a mistake on top of another mistake.

"They're never going to speak to me again." Carlos murmured.

"Well," Katie looked up towards the doorway. "I don't know about that, if they're working with Gustavo, they can't _not_ come. They're getting paid to do it. And they're your friends; they know that everyone makes mistakes."

"But we scared them half to death!" Kendall insisted.

"Not enough to scare us away entirely." Patrick said quietly as the five of them slowly moved into the room.

Carlos surged to his feet and hurried over to his friends. They flinched and took a step back, causing him to stop. "Guys, I'm _so_ sorry." He apologized quietly. "I really didn't mean for this to happen. And if it's any consolation, I don't want to touch the stuff again."

"Can we just hear your song?" Riley asked firmly. "That's pretty much the only reason that we're here."

"Yeah," Carlos nodded, licking his lips, looking disappointed. "Yeah, you can hear it." He waved a hand at his friends and the four of them started to move into the booth. Carlos stopped and turned back around, looking down at Sydney. "We could use your help though?"

"Me?" Sydney's eyebrows rose and he tilted his head to the side. "On what?"

"Are you ready or what?" Gustavo snapped, turning from the sound board.

Sydney rolled his eyes and hesitantly followed Kendall, Logan, James, and Carlos into the sound booth. Logan handed him a copy of the lyrics and pointed to a spot on the page and he nodded before giving a small smile. Riley, Rhuben, Patrick, and Noah moved over to the unoccupied couch and sat down on it.

"Cut the guys some slack," Katie whispered to them as they started the music. "They made a mistake and are really sorry."

"We know that they are," Noah replied, turning to her. "But…it's not something that we can get over quickly."

"I get you." Katie nodded. "I just hope that it doesn't keep us all from being able to hang out."

"I think you should talk to Stephanie about that first." Noah replied, flipping his hair out of his face. A small smirk graced his lips as he slouched down in his seat. "You know, if she's even talking to him. I don't think he even knows he did something wrong there, too." He shook his head, lightly pulling on his bottom lip.

"Touché."

"Ok, Music Sounds Better With U, let's hear it!" Gustavo crossed his arms over his chest and leaned back in his seat, glaring at the four boys from behind his sunglasses.

James waited through the first few beats of the song and then took a quick breath, launching into the song. "I tried to write this down, the words just don't come out, it's hard to say how you feel. Been down the longest road, said yes when I meant no, I lost control of the wheel."

"Cause you know that," Carlos and Logan sang together before Carlos continued. "Things get so bad, you've got my back, make me wanna sing."

"And girl I'll sing about you," Logan sang.

"No sweeter sound than what I've found, no perfect love could be more perfect than us." Carlos sang as Logan came in again on the end of the lyrics before the four of them launched into the chorus.

"Oooo baby, it feels like, it feels like, music sounds better with you. Baby it feels right, it feels right, everything's better with you."

Kendall moved closer to his mic and closed his eyes, as he usually did when he was singing. "I used to think that love was something fools made up cause all I knew was heartbreak. Oh, I couldn't help myself, let this heart go through hell, there's only so much a heart can take."

"Cause you know that things get so bad, you've got my back, make me wanna sing. And girl I'll sing about you. No sweeter sound than what I've found. No perfect love could be more perfect than us. Oooo baby, it feels like, it feels like music sounds better with you. Baby, it feels right, it feels right, everything's better with you." The boys were really getting into the song at this point, dancing a little bit as they continued to sing their song.

Kacy had a proud smile on her face as she bobbed back and forth. Even Kelly and Ronan were smiling widely. Gustavo was the only one that still held the serious look on his face, never being one to give things away, especially with music. It was better to listen to the whole thing before he gave his criticism on it.

"Every song, every rhyme, every word is better with you." Carlos sang, closing his eyes as he let the emotion take him over. Every day,

"Every day." Kendall harmonized.

"All of the time."

"All of the time."

"Every way, music sound better with you."

Logan nudged Sydney and pointed at the lyrics once again. Sydney nodded and pulled his headphones up onto his ears before he started to rap-sing the next lyrics of the song. "She's my music enhancer, when the music plays she's my dancer, when I'm around her everything's faster, every question I have she's the answer. I'm head over heels. Can't explain that this all so real when I'm around you baby you make me feel like-" He cut off the end of his lyrics as Kendall, Logan, James, and Carlos started back in on the song.

"Everything's better with you. Oooo baby, it feels like, it feels like music sounds better with you. Baby, it feels right, it feels right, everything's better with you. Oooo baby, it feels like, it feels like music sounds better with you. Baby, it feels right, it feels right, everything's better with you. The music sounds better with you. Music sounds better with you."

Gustavo nodded slowly as the last few beats of the song played through the speakers. He twisted his mouth to the side and rocked back and forth in his chair for a second as he thought about it. Finally, he leaned forward and pressed an intercom button on the sound board.

"I think you guys have written your first Big Time Single!" He declared and let go of the intercom and Kendall, Logan, Carlos, and James started to flip out, screaming at the top of their lungs and jump up and down, high-fiving each other as Sydney slid out of the booth and went over to his siblings, smiling as Ronan reached out and ruffled his hair as he passed him.

"So what do you guys think?" Ronan asked, turning to his kids, a bit surprised to see that they didn't look as excited or proud, but distracted.

"I think it's good." Rhuben said with a nod. "Really good for their first try writing a song on their own."

"But they still have a long way to go." Patrick added.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **Sorry it's a shorter chapter; I just wanted to show them doing the song and then get started on them doing the next one. I don't know how long this story is going to be, if the chapters are very long, at this point, it'll be from 30-40 chapters. I've put some of my other stories on hiatus for now, so I'll probably be able to get a chapter done a day, depending on how long they are. Like I did with WFLTII: Don't Stop Believing. Wow, I can't believe I wrote that story two summers ago. Anyway, I hope you guys liked the chapter and I'll update again soon.

Cheers,

-Riles


	13. Cause We All Fall Down PART II

**.:Chapter Thirteen – Cause We All Fall Down PART II:.**

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><p>"Has he called yet?" Camille asked, slowly kicking her legs back and forth as she lay on her stomach on Jo's bed. She rested her cheek in her hand as she gazed at Stephanie, who sat at the head of the bed, her knees drawn up to her chest, staring at her feet.<p>

"No," Stephanie said as she shook her head, her eyes narrowing a little bit. "He hasn't even tried to talk to me on ScuttleButter either." She flipped her long brown hair behind her head. "I don't get it; really, I never pegged Carlos as the kind of guy that would want to drink."

"The punch was freaking spiked, what do you expect?" Jo replied from where she was sitting on her bedroom floor, getting her nails painted by Rhuben. Riley sat on the floor next to the bed, leafing through a magazine. "They didn't think anything was wrong with it, hence why they continued drinking." She leaned back, resting her arms on the ground, making sure to keep her foot balanced so she wouldn't mess up Rhuben's painting. "I'm not _that_ surprised really, it was bound to happen sooner or later at one of those 'Hollywood Parties' that James was so keen to go to."

"But you're acting like it was Dak's fault," Riley replied as she tilted her head back to look at Steph. "He threw the party, yes, but it was one of the random people that crashed that spiked it." She tossed the magazine aside. "I know Dak and he wouldn't let anyone drink," she shook her head. "Not when his sister was around." Rhuben nodded silently in agreement.

"Good point," Stephanie mumbled. She stretched out her legs and let out a huff as she crossed her arms over his chest. "Then it's Carlos' stupidity." She squeezed her eyes shut. "I can't believe he pushed me to the ground."

"Alcohol messes with people's mind," Rhuben said with a cool tone as she shrugged, tapping Jo's leg and holding her hand out for her other foot. "Even the smartest person on the planet can become totally uninhibited as soon as they get drunk." She shrugged again.

Stephanie sighed and tilted her head back, her eyes still closed. She wasn't that surprised that Carlos hasn't tried to apologize to her yet. He probably didn't even remember that he had hurt her. But the news spread pretty quickly to her publicist, who knew that she had gone. No one knew any of the details; whose party it was or who was there, and that was probably due to people being so drunk. It was a blessing in disguise for all of them, if people had known who was there or that Dak had thrown it, especially since there was a lot of underage drinking, all of their reputations would have been trashed some way or another.

Well, it would have probably helped the DarkElements' a little; because of their image, they were expected to go to all night ragers. But if you really got to know them you would know that they hated large parties almost as much as they hated going to business parties for Blazing Phoenix, their record company. In reality, they like to hang out at parties with their friends as well as watch movies, go to the beach, and of course cause mischief whenever they were bored. The only time that they seemed to get into trouble was when they were bored, and they got bored pretty easily.

"If I didn't know any better, I would say that you were mad at Logan." Jo said gently.

"Ooh, it took you _that _long to figure that out?" Rhuben shot back sarcastically.

"We're mad at all of them, really." Riley said as she pulled her hair from its pigtails and got up, crossing to Jo's desk. She picked up a hair brush and turned to Jo, raising an eyebrow in question and Jo waved a hand in reply, allowing her to use it. "Not just for the drinking," she said after a minute, noticing the looks on Jo, Camille, and Stephanie's faces. "But because they don't' seem to realize that while they're in Hollywood every decision they make affects someone around them as well as their career." She let out a sigh before looking at her friends seriously. "The guys don't find out about this?"

"Of course," Camille replied as she crossed her fingers and held them over her heart. "Nothing ever leaves this room." Rhuben turned and gave her a look. Camille gave a nervous chuckle. "Well, except for that one time that it _slipped_ _out_."

"That's what I thought." Rhuben replied with a half smile, though it faded quickly.

"They haven't really been living up to their potential lately," Riley explained as she continued to brush her hair. "They've been slacking off on their work when they're not trying to write a song. And while their first song was actually pretty good for their first time of writing it, they still have a ways that they can go." She shrugged. "The fact that they don't take things as seriously as others is what made them stand apart from everyone else at first, but now it's getting on my fucking nerves."

"Well, it's like you said, that's the way they work." Jo replied as she twirled her hair around her index finger. She pulled her feet back when Rhuben finished. "Nice job, Rhubes, I love it!" She wiggled her now orange toe-nails.

"You're welcome," Rhuben replied as she stretched out on the floor, lying on her back and looking at the ceiling. "They're getting so much so on my nerves that I'm wondering why we keep working with them," she looked at her nails casually. "Especially since it's getting in the way of our own work."

"Because they're your friends." Stephanie reminded her. "And because you'd help them whenever you need it."

"Yeah, but now when they abuse my help with no 'thanks' in return for it." Rhuben said somewhat bitterly. She rolled onto her side and glared at the floor.

"Do you think that you're ever going to talk to them, though?" Camille asked. She pushed her wavy hair behind her. "After they scared you, I mean." She tapped her fingers on the bed. "I get that you guys were scared like beyond belief-"

"Which there's no way that we can experience anything like that," Stephanie cut in quickly when she noticed the slightly offended look on Riley's face.

"Right," Camille added. "But they're, like, your best friends out here and the only way that they have gotten to be where they are is with your help. Would you really want to stop working with them now that things are going so well for both of your bands? They made a mistake and it's not like they're going to drink ever again. They may be idiots most of the time, but they know how to learn from their mistakes."

"Well, that depends really," Rhuben propped her head up onto her palm. "Is Steph going to call Carlos?" she turned her gaze over to her taller friend.

She crossed her arms over her chest, stubbornly. "I'm not going to talk to him, if he wants to talk; he's going to have to call me first."

Rhuben turned to Camille. "I think that answers your question."

Camille's eyebrows furrowed for a second. She couldn't place it really, but she didn't think that, at that moment that Rhuben was mad at the guys. It seemed like she was mad at Camille. _But what could I have done to make her upset? I haven't said or done anything wrong…_She shrugged off the thought. It was common for any of the Jacksons to be moody over something that no one knew about. So maybe that was it.

"Oh, Jo," She turned to her blonde friend and changed the subject. "Where did you disappear to at the party? We hardly saw you."

"Uh," Jo looked down at her hands and shrugged. "Nothing, I was just talking to Jett about my part on the show. "Nothing special." She started to wring her hands together, moving them over each other quickly so they made an audible sound throughout the quiet of the rest of the room.

"Uh-huh," Riley sounded like she didn't believe her as she got to her feet. "I have to go; it's my day to hang out on the beach with the ankle-biters." She rolled her eyes although she was smiling a little. Every weekend the Jacksons would rotate through them to take the kids from the local orphanage to play at the beach and this time it was Riley's turn.

"And Ronan wants me to clean up the apartment while he's in a meeting, so I have to go too." Rhuben said as she got to her feet. "We'll talk to ya guys later." She turned to Steph. "For the record, sometimes you have to make the first move if you want things to get better. And you and Carlos are perfect for each other." Stephanie gave a small smile and Rhuben lightly tossed her head at Riley, who was nodding as well. "So we hope things work out for you soon."

"Thanks." Stephanie said quietly.

Jo waved as Riley and Rhuben left, before turning to her phone as it buzzed. Picking it up, she held her breath when she noticed that it was a text from Jett. She knew that if she ignored it he would continue to text her, as he had set it up on his phone that he got a message whenever his texts were read. She tried ignoring him before, but then she woke up the next day with about 50 missed, angry texts that made her more upset as she read them. Letting out her breath, Jo pressed the screen to open the text and set her mouth in a grim line as she read his message.

**Jett: Had a great time talking to you at the party. We should do it again soon. ;)**

Jett's comment made Jo's skin tingle made the flesh under her arms hot. She turned off her phone before she said something she'd regret later. When she set the phone on her bed, she realized her hand was shaking.

* * *

><p>"So you're still mad at the guys?" Katie asked Patrick and Noah as she kicked her feet back and forth in the water of the PalmWoods pool. She looked down at her reflection as it wobbled with the ripples she created. "Because I haven't seen them so depressed since they did this."<p>

"Yeah, well, sucks to be them," Patrick replied as he lightly pulled at his lower lip.

"Honestly," Noah spoke up from Katie's other side. "James came to the studio earlier to apologize."

"And did you accept his apology?" Katie continued. "You know they're all sorry about what happened." She pulled her hair behind her shoulders. "They wouldn't stop talking about it this morning. Mom is starting to figure out that something is up, since you guys didn't come over today, but they obviously didn't say anything-"

"Because they didn't want to upset her?" Patrick rolled his eyes. "Poor them." Noah leaned forward and gave him a look and Patrick shook his head in reply. "No. Sorry Buddy, but I don't think that they should be off the hook that easily. I mean, I'm not as mad as Riles and Rhubes, personally, I don't think that's possible, but I'm still angry about it."

Katie lifted her head and looked around the PalmWoods pool. She hated to admit it, but the fact that the Jacksons were somewhat avoiding BTR was really making this change around the PalmWoods. Things were _definitely _quieter without them around. She was even starting to miss yelling at all of them for getting her into trouble with their crazy schemes, usually stemming from something stupid that the boys did or the Jacksons' raging boredom. Bitters was staring to ask about it as well, wondering why he hadn't had to go out and threaten them with strikes. You knew that something had gone down if Bitters noticed that nothing was going on.

"Dak and Lizzie are scared that you guys won't talk to them," she said, speaking of the phone call that she had had the night before. Lizzie had called her, crying, saying that she didn't know what to do in case they were mad at her too. Katie was surprised that Lizzie was crying and that she called her with her problem. Katie never really had girlfriends before she met Lizzie, Jo, Camille, Stephanie, Riley, and Rhuben so it was odd to get used to. But at the same time, it made her feel good.

"Really?" Noah asked, kicking his legs back and forth as well.

"Yeah, she thinks that because it was at their house that you won't go back around them." Katie continued.

"That's stupid," Patrick cracked his knuckles. "It wasn't their fault, Dak never has beer there, and someone else brought it in."

"And it wasn't my brother's fault either," Katie said. She reached out and touched his shoulder, quickly pulling her hand away as Patrick flinched and held his arm up over his face, as if fending off a hit. "So don't punish them, things need to go back to normal around here." She turned and lightly jostled Noah's shoulder. "It's so boring now."

"You just want things to go back to normal so you can get away with scamming people." Patrick accused. A small smile tugged at Noah's lips as Katie acknowledged that his accusation was correct.

Noah lightly sucked his bottom lip into his mouth as he thought about it. Anything else he could forgive, but his friends drinking, knowing when their friends had a problem with it, seemed like it was a slap in the face. He had to admit, things were lonely without them around, but it wasn't something that he condones. Three magazines over the years had even quoted him and his siblings saying that for personal reasons they would _never _drink, smoke, or do drugs and didn't understand why people would do it. They were so against it that they constantly donated to charities and did volunteer service to help raise awareness for those kinds of things.

"Ok, how about we do something else besides talk and have some fun?" Katie suggested as she got to her feet, loudly splashing water as she pulled her feet from the pool. "Like Saran Wrap Bitters' door or rig a way to get smoothies to fall on him."

"I think the Saran Wrap is a good idea," Patrick said as he got to his feet. He lightly hit Noah in the chest. "Let's go get some from the apartment."

Noah smiled and nodded and the two grabbed their shoes before heading out of the PalmWoods Pool with Katie slowly walking behind her as she tried to muster up some courage. She cleared her throat.

"Patrick?"

"Yes, ma'am?" Patrick did a quick 180 on his heel and gave Katie a curious look. Noah looked over his shoulder at them. Patrick held up the peace sign. "I'll be there in a minute." Noah nodded silently and then continued out of the pool area.

Katie ground the toe of her sandals into the concrete, silently cursing herself for even speaking up. She didn't think she could do it now. But since Lizzie was pushing her to do it and she really wanted to…Katie took a deep breath as she lifted her head and forced herself to look Patrick in the eye. He still looked at her curiously.

"Do you…want to go out with me tonight?" She finally asked.

* * *

><p>Kendall jogged over a sand-dune as he scanned the beach. Having called Patrick, he knew that Riley and Sydney were going to be there. So like Logan had done to get to Ronan's apartment while his mom was out, he got on a bus and rode the hour ride there. The whole way he was thinking of a way to try and apologize to them, like the others had done, but everything that he had come up with sounded stupid and it gave him the idea that he was going to be laughed at.<p>

_I wouldn't put it past her. _Kendall thought as they had neared the beach. At the time, some of the other passengers on the bus were staring at him and he just gave a short smile and turned away. Obviously he was thinking out loud.

Kendall continued to scan the beach, finally spotting a bunch of kids, probably ranging from about 5 to about Sydney's age running around in a circle as Riley stood off to the side, shouting something at them. He squinted his eyes and saw Sydney sitting next to her on the sand, watching patiently. He took off his shoes and headed across the sand towards them. Sydney was the first one to notice her as he said something and waved a hand, grabbing Riley's attention, before pointing towards him. Riley looked up and gave him the coldest, most disgusted look that he had ever gotten in his entire life, and then went back to what she was doing.

Kendall slowed down a bit, hoping that he was doing the right thing, but continued towards him anyway. The little kids noticed him as well, for they stopped running in a circle and then sprinted over to Kendall, kicking up sand along the way. Before he knew it, he was completely surrounded by them, having his arms legs, and clothes tugged on.

"Come play with us!" A little girl squealed.

"Are you a friend of Miss. Riley's?" another boy asked. "Are you her boyfriend?"

"Brier, leave him alone." Sydney said as he got to his feet and walked over to Kendall. "You don't want to tear apart your new friend do you?" He turned to the little girl as the other kids backed away; she continued to stay attached his hip. "Addie, you too." He insisted before gently grabbing her by the shoulders and pulling her away. "Sorry about that," Sydney apologized with enough of a smile so that his dimples showed a little bit. "They get so excited when they come out here."

"It's alright, no harm's done." Kendall replied. He studied Sydney, a little surprised to see that he didn't look mad or annoyed of him being there. "You're not mad at me?"

Sydney paused and shook his head, noticing that two little boys had grabbed his hands and were lightly tugging him back and forth at that time. "More like disappointed." He replied as he looked up at his older friend. "But I know that if you knew the punch was spiked you wouldn't continue to drink it." He tilted his head to the side, lowering his voice a little. "You really scared me though. Instead of looking at you guys, I saw four versions of Robert getting ready to come after me again."

Kendall's heart sank. He looked up and noticed Riley slowly walking towards him. "I swear nothing like that will ever happen again. I know that apologizing isn't much, but I don't want to lose you guys as friends."

Sydney's eyebrows rose. "You think you're going to lose us as friends over something as little as this?" He scoffed a little and then looked at Kendall out of the corner of his eye when he noticed the odd look on the blonde boy's face. "Even I'm not dumb enough to stop being friends with someone over a mistake. My brothers and sisters aren't that dumb either, but they're very protective of me, so I don't think that they're going to forgive you that quickly."

"But you do?" Kendall's hopes rose.

"Yes," Sydney nodded once. "But after this I'm not giving you another chance. I think that everyone deserves to have second chances, but if you," he looked around and lowered his voice even more. "Screw me over," he raised his voice. "Again after this one, you can forget even saying that you knew us. 'Cause I can forgive, but I never forget."

Kendall reached out and ruffled his hair. "Thanks Syd."

"Don't thank me," Sydney shrugged him off. "Just don't do it again."

"Miss. Riley," one of the girls Sydney's age turned to her as she arrived at the edge of their group. "Is he going to play with us too?" She pointed over at Kendall and gave him a shy smile before turning away. "He's really cute.

"I told you, Kelly, you can go ahead and call me Riley." She looked at the younger kids. "Or Ri-Ri if it's too hard for the others to say." She looked at Syd and tilted her head back. "No, he's not here to play with you. Why don't you go play Lolly Relay while Mr. Kendall and I talk?" she suggested.

"Great," Sydney tilted his head back to look at her as he rolled his eyes, speaking over the kids' excited shouts and screams. "You want me to deal with 20 kids on a sugar-high?"

"That's what happens when we deal with _you_ on a sugar-high," Riley rubbed the back of his head. "You have enough energy for about 20 kids. The only difference is that you kick people." She lightly pushed him forward and he walked away with the orphans before turning back to Kendall. She held up a hand before he could even speak. "Don't even bother apologizing, because it won't help much."

"Are you going to laugh at me too?" He asked with a tiny bit of attitude. He took a breath and relaxed. "I didn't think that an apology would help."

"Great," Riley clasped her hands together. "Now that we have that settled." She moved to walk away.

"Oh come on, Riles," Kendall stopped her. "We've fought before and you haven't gotten like this."

"Yeah, well, you weren't drunk before." Riley replied pointedly.

"I know," Kendall moved his hands to the prayer position. "And I thought that you would know me well enough by now that I wouldn't have done it willingly and that I wouldn't do it again. I care too much about you guys to even _think_ about jeopardizing our friendship." He pouted.

Riley sighed. "That's not going to work, Kendall."

He immediately knew that he was in deep trouble, if she used his actual name. For reasons he couldn't even begin to figure out, she constantly teased him and gave him nicknames that he hated. Out of all of the ones that she had given him, Hockey-Head, Eyebrows, Butt-Chin, Kendork, Ken-doll, and Kendie, he tolerated Hockey-Head the most. (The latter he hated with a passion and knew that she did it just to bug him, because he had told her before that he hated it whenever any girl, girlfriend/family member, called him that).

"I go by actions, not by words," She jabbed him in the chest with her index finger. "So don't go apologizing all the time, 'because I can tell you're sorry. But life isn't all lollipops and rainbows, it sucks. Life sucks and you have to deal with things you did."

"So you're just going to punish me?" Kendall asked, aghast. He understood why she was doing, what she was saying, but at the same time, he wondered if it she was doing just to be difficult.

"I'm not punishing you," Riley replied. "I'm giving myself space, because I can't look at you guys without flinching and thinking that I'm going to be hit in the next second." She reached up and scratched her forehead.

"So…you don't want to hang out?" Kendall asked and Riley gave him an incredulous look. "After you're done with this, I mean. I can start _showing_ you how much I want to still be friends with you guys and how much I want to make things better."

"Can't," Riley raised and lowered her right shoulder. "I have stuff to do." She turned her head away.

Kendall gave her a pleading look. "Riles, don't do this."

"Don't tell me what I can and can't do, Kendall." Riley suddenly snapped her eyes squinted against the sunlight. "I can't push this aside and act like it didn't happen. But I want to move on from it." She pursed her lips as she thought. "In the future I _might _be able to _try_ and forgive you for it, but I won't ever forget it." She started to walk back towards her brother and the kids, noticing that he was slowly being piled upon.

Kendall turned and started to walk back up the beach. He turned back around when heard Riley calling his name. "Yeah?" he asked hesitantly.

"…I'm free after work tomorrow, we can hang out then." She said.

* * *

><p>Logan took a deep breath before knocking on the door to Ronan's apartment. He waited a few moments, about to turn away and go back to the bus stop, but then let out his breath when he heard footsteps behind the door. He looked up and watched as Rhuben's face turned from curiosity to cold nothingness when she opened the door and saw him.<p>

"Hi," Logan gave a short wave.

"Hey." Rhuben said simply, moving her purple strand of hair out of her eyes. Logan's eyes searched her face so any sign of warm welcome that he usually got. But there was nothing there; she just continued to look at him, waiting for him to say something. "I'm kind of busy cleaning so…" she trailed off, jerking her thumb over her shoulder.

"Oh," Logan pulled his hands from his pockets. "I just wanted to talk for a minute," he paused, stopping himself before he took a step forward, expecting her to open the door. But after what they did, he wouldn't blame her if she didn't.

He wasn't sure if Rhuben was going to say anything as she still wasn't giving away any emotion in her face. Finally, she took a step back, holding the door open wider. Logan stepped into the apartment and waited as Rhuben closed the door behind her before following her over to the den. There were pens, pencils, shreds of paper, and magazines all strewn about. He smiled a little as he looked at a table that had a lamp on it and spotted a picture of the Jacksons sitting there. Ronan obviously thought very highly of them and had for a while.

"You said you wanted to talk, but your lips haven't moved." Rhuben spoke up, causing Logan to jump a little at the sudden sound.

"Right," Logan nodded. "You know that we're all sorry." He said. "I know that it can't make up for anything, but if we knew that it was spiked before hand, we wouldn't have kept drinking."

"Had you ever thought of looking at the color of the punch or sniffing it first?" Rhuben asked pointedly as she started to straighten up some of the pillows on the couch. "Or, the fact that all three Jennifers made out with James should have tipped you off."

Logan felt stupid. She was right on that point. He knew that none of the Jennifers would give any of them the time of day if it wasn't for some other substance that was added into the mix. He even knew that was weird when he heard it. And yet, he didn't think anything odd about it. It was a party and being in a party atmosphere made people act differently than they usually did. Unfortunately, he got caught up in it as well.

"You left kind of fast," Logan tried going about the subject a different way. "When we all saw how scared you were, we felt really bad."

"Are you sure it's not the alcohol making you _think_ you were sorry?"

"If I wasn't sorry, I wouldn't be here, when I'm still on the last legs of a hangover." Logan insisted, starting to become impatient.

"That's true." Rhuben begrudgingly admitted.

"If it helps any, it's a good thing you weren't there when we first started drinking," Logan put his hands back into his pockets. "B the time that you got there, we just started to puke everything that we had eaten back up." He laughed a little. "I hadn't puked that much since I had gotten the flue when we were back in Texas. Remember?"

"I remember." Rhuben thought for a moment. "Riles gave you a black eye because you threw up all over her." She smirked as Logan lightly rubbed his right eye, where Riley had sucker-punched him out of frustration. "Your eye was swollen for about a week." Logan tried not to let his excitement show; things were starting to get better.

"Yeah," Rhuben continued as she pushed her hair behind her ears as she grabbed a bunch of pencils and that were strewn around the coffee table. Logan guessed that they were dried out. "Well, I bumped into Dak before we _found_ you guys."

He knew from the way that she had said 'found' that she was still angry at him for sure. That, and the fact that she wasn't looking at him either. He gave a smile, trying to lighten the tension in the room a little, although he felt his stomach clench. "Did he ask you out again?" Logan asked as he grabbed the trash can and moved it over so she could dump the pencils into it.

"No."

"I don't really think he's your type, anyway." Logan said as he put the trash can down, dusting the palms of his hands off on his pants.

Rhuben slowly turned around, looking at Logan so coldly he felt a chill fall down his spine. She shook her head. "No," she said quietly. "No way. No. That's not fair, Logan." She lifted her index finger and stabbed the air with it. "You don't get to tell me who I can and can't date. You don't have that right!"

"I'm your best friend," Logan said as he held his hands over his chest, noticing that she didn't call him 'Logie-Bear'. "How do I _not_ have the right?"

"Hm," Rhuben pressed her finger to her chin as she pretended to think about it, showing off her dark purple nail polish. "Maybe because you didn't have a say in whom I dated before?"

"And look how those relationships ended up!" Logan replied before he could stop himself. He let out a soft groan of contempt, realizing that he had just set himself up for her to be angrier at him. He peeked a look at her and knew that she was very angry from the way that she just went back to cleaning. Knowing her so long he knew that she got very quiet whenever she was angry, instead of showing people how angry she was, she tried to internalize it. "I didn't mean that." He said.

"Sounded like you did," Rhuben walked around him and tossed the random scraps of paper into a trash can before starting to gather up all of the magazines that were scattered around.

"But you know I didn't," Logan followed her. "You know that I wouldn't want to hurt you on purpose."

"I guess."

"Bella," Logan reached out and grabbed onto her shoulder. She stopped and gave him an impatient look as he moved in front of her to look her in the eye. "I'm just trying to protect you." He explained. Rhuben's eyes narrowed and he continued, knowing what she was thinking. "I know that you already have enough of that from your brothers and from Ronan, but I also know that you want to keep your abuse out of the media. How do you think that that's going to happen if you date Dak? I just want to be sure that you know what you're doing?"

"So, what?" Rhuben hugged the magazines to her chest. "I can't make my own mistake and find out the hard way?"

"You're not letting me." Logan reminded her.

Rhuben's face softened, knowing what he was talking about. "Look," she moved the magazines to hold it against her hip. "What you guys did was a major mistake, and you scared us so much that it'll probably take a bit for us to get back to that comfortable position that we were with you before." She took a step away from him to emphasize her point. "And I know that Dak wouldn't go and blab my secret because it wouldn't only affect him and me, it would affect my family and you guys and our friends as well."

"But there's still that possibility." Logan reminded her.

"I've had that possibility just by being your guys' friend, and you haven't done anything." Rhuben shot back.

Logan breathed through his nose as he looked away. "So you're going to go out with him?"

"Not that it's any of your business," Rhuben replied and paused. "I _might_," she stressed the second word before looking at her watch. "Don't you have something to do? No offense, but I just don't want to talk right now."

"It's alright," Logan nodded slowly as his shoulders slumped in defeat. "I understand." He rubbed the back of his head. "I'll just go back to the PalmWoods and help Camille with her lines or something." He walked towards the door, missing Rhuben roll her eyes. "Or maybe the guys are playing a video game. But," he paused and turned back around. "Are we ok?"

Rhuben gave him a confused look as she turned back around. Then she shifted her eyes when she realized what he was talking about. Were they ok after he had scared her and her siblings and pried into her private life? Could things go back to normal? Both of them knew that it wasn't going to be completely 'normal', she wasn't going to get over the incident any time soon since it was someone that was so close to her that had scared her.

But with time, of course.

She wasn't going to just dump his friendship completely because of it. He was one of the people that helped her get rid of the man that caused her so much pain and he was one of the people that were slowly helping her get away from her demons.

"I think so," she replied slowly.

"Cool," Logan smiled as he paused at the door. "Later."

"Peace." Rhuben replied with a small smile.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **So I decided that I'm only going to show the writing process of the songs off of Elevate that BTR wrote or co-wrote and the ones I like. So that would be Cover Girl (it's not my favorite, but its needed for the story, Love Me Love Me, IIRTW, Time Of Our Life, Superstar, You're Not Alone (from time to time) Elevate, and then the two other songs that are supposed to be on it (in my opinion) Blow Your Speakers and Epic. I might make Paralyzed and Invisible deleted scenes though, I haven't decided.

What did you think of this chapter? It took me a bit to get the idea of it, so that's why it might not flow very well. Also, you'll see more of James in the next chapter.

Cheers,

-Riles


	14. Parents Just Don't Understand

**.:Chapter Fourteen – Parents Just Don't Understand:.**

* * *

><p><em>Back off I'll take you on<br>Headstrong to take on anyone  
>I know that you are wrong<br>Headstrong we're headstrong  
>Back off I'll take you on<br>Headstrong to take on anyone  
>I know that you are wrong and this is not where you belong<br>I can't give everything away  
>I won't give everything away<em>

"Nice job guys," Ronan said with a proud smile as he waved at the Jacksons to leave the sound booth. "You finished Headstrong quicker than I thought." He removed a CD from the disc tray and moved it into a case, labeling it 'Headstrong' before pushing his rolling chair back to a bookcase filled with CDs and slid it into an empty spot. "Now we have two songs off of your second CD for the US as well as your 7th/8th for Australia done."

"Well, you know how we work with inspiration," Noah said, grinning proudly as well. "We can crank it out when we really need to."

"Speaking of inspiration," Ronan turned around to face his five kids as they sat on the couch, looking back at him. "How are you feeling with the idea that Robert wants to see you guys? I mean, what with what happened at the party last week-"

"Hang on a tick," Patrick quickly interrupted him. "You haven't told Mama Knight or Gustavo and Kelly about that, have you?" He twisted his fingers. "I mean, they do deserve to know, but we think that it would be better if one of the guys finally told them, you know," he bobbed his head back and forth. "If they haven't already found out from the gossip sites since the tabloids don't care about them to stalk them yet."

"I've looked and so far nothing," Ronan replied. "I think it died down for the most part, and I agree with you on them telling the others, but if they don't do it soon, I will." He reminded them. He clasped his hands together. "Anyway, like I was saying, your dad wants to see you, we know that. Have you decided whether or not you want to, yet?" He rested his hands on his stomach when he noticed the 'duh' looks that they were giving him. "I'm not pushing you to go one way or another, but personally, I would like an explanation."

Sydney shook his head back and forth and tightly squeezed his eyes shut, turning his head into Rhuben's side. She smiled sadly down at him as she put an arm around his shoulders. None of them knew what to do. They sure as hell didn't want to see him, to be reminded of everything that he had done to them, especially since they hadn't gotten over it enough to stop the nightmares that plagued them almost constantly. It was still keeping them from being completely open with their friends and it was starting to affect them so much that Ronan was starting to suggest that they go to a psychiatrist to deal with their PTSD. The explanation might make things better for them, to help them in some way, but at the moment, it would probably just make things worse for them.

"Well, you have time to think about it," Ronan said as he looked at his watch. "You're done for the day so you can go to Rocque Records now." He looked up before quickly standing up when he heard a knock at the door and saw Kacy leaning in the doorway. "Hey Kace," he greeted her with a smile. "How long were you standing there?"

"I just got here," Kacy replied with a smile as she held her arms in front of her, a coat dangling off of her arms. "But, I ran into some visitors on the way up and I didn't think that you would mind." She added, pointing over her shoulder. "Your receptionist even said it was ok."

"Yeah, but there are some fans that try to sneak their way up here, acting like they know Ronan." Riley reminded her. "So that might not have been a good idea." Kacy stepped aside and allowed a slightly older looking couple to enter the room. "Then again, that was a completely _horrible_ idea."

"Riley!" Ronan admonished her before walking over to the couple. "Mom, Dad," he greeted them with a hug. "What are you doing here?" He asked as he took a step back.

"We were just in the city and we thought that we'd stop by and visit you." Mrs. McGuire replied with a cool smile, tightly holding onto her purse as she flicked her gaze over to the Jacksons. "And my grandchildren."

"Which basically means that she wanted to barge her way in here and see what was going on." Mr. McGuire said with a smile that earned a sharp glare from his wife and small smiles from the Jacksons.

Mrs. McGuire turned back to Ronan. "You didn't introduce me," she said pointedly before turning to Kacy.

"Oh, right," Ronan cleared his throat. "Kacy this is my Mom and Dad." He turned back to her. "Mom, Dad, this is my friend…" he hesitated for a moment. "And co-worker, I guess, Kacy Knight. Her son is part of the band Big Time Rush."

"It's nice to meet you," Kacy said as she held out her hand.

"It's nice to meet you too, Kacy," Mr. McGuire grabbed her hand and shook it with gusto, smiling warmly at her. "Nice to meet you, too. I've heard so much about you and your kids." He placed his free hand on his chest. "Call me Bishop, if you want."

"Nice to meet you, Bishop." Kacy smiled warmly. She already liked him, she could tell that he was the kid of parent that wanted to be a grandparent so he could spoil his grandkids, tell them jokes, and have fun with them.

"And this is my wife, Marilyn." Mr. McGuire continued, gesturing to her.

"It's nice to meet you too, Marilyn." Kacy held her hand out to her.

Mrs. McGuire merely smiled at her, refusing to offer her hand. "You can call me Mrs. McGuire." She replied and then ignored her completely as she turned to her son. "Now, Ronan, we need to talk about some things." She looked over at the Jacksons before turning back to him. "We didn't want to do this when they were around, but I guess now is a good time as any." She took a breath. "Have you ever gone over their table manners and etiquette? We were very offended when they came over to dinner and didn't seem to know how to behave."

Kacy's eyebrows raised as she looked over at Ronan, who sucked his lips into his mouth, trying everything in his power, not tell her off. No matter how old he was, she was still his mother and he knew that he would probably die if he disrespected her. She looked over at the Jacksons and felt bad for them when she saw how offended they looked.

"Your twin boys, at least the blond one, didn't seem to know how to say 'please' and 'thank you' when things were passed to him," Mrs. McGuire continued. "And your daughters couldn't stop talking back to me. It was really rude."

"Don't mind her," Mr. McGuire said, trying to dispel the tension. "She just has her underwear up her butt."

Ronan snorted and held his hand over his mouth as Mrs. McGuire turned and hit her husband in the chest. Ronan looked over at his kids and his smile widened when they were trying to hide their laughter as well. He didn't know why his mother didn't get along with them, but his father adapted to them very quickly.

"I do not!" She hissed and then turned to Ronan again. "And the youngest looks like he's about to cry whenever someone talks to him, the boy with the white hair; I can't hear him when he talks, and the other girl, she keep glaring at me all the time."

"Mom," Ronan said as patiently as possible. "They all have names; I would like it if you used them." He rolled his eyes when she ignored him and continued going.

"And then your eldest son, he's living in sin!" She continued. "He lives with his girlfriend and they're not even married yet."

"Well for one thing," Ronan held up a finger, getting her to stop. "They live in a apartment with about three other guys, maybe five if I'm not mistaken." He said, squinting his eyes a little bit as he thought. "I don't know that exactly."

"She's the only woman living there?" Mrs. McGuire asked, aghast.

"It's 2011, Ma, I think things'll be fine." Ronan replied. "Now, we need to have this conversation later," he leaned forward and kissed her cheek. "When I'm not so busy and completely swamped with work." He gently turned her around and pointed her towards the door. "I'll call you when I'm finished and we can talk then." He turned to his father and lowered his voice. "Is she on something?"

"She just woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning," Mr. McGuire replied and patted his son on the shoulder. "Give her time to cool down and we can talk rationally, alright?" He gave his son a hug before waving to his adoptive grandchildren. "See you later." He then turned to Kacy. "It was nice meeting you." He said against before leaving the office after his wife.

Ronan slapped a hand over his face as he dug his hand into his pocket, pulling out a set of car keys. "Don't take your frustration out on the road." He said as Rhuben reached up and grabbed them.

"No problem." She replied shortly.

"I'll take a cab home," Ronan continued as he slid the hand down his face, pulling at his features as he let go of the keys. He grabbed onto Sydney's shoulders and knelt down to his level, wiping the quiet tears away from his face. "Hey, she doesn't hate you." He said to his youngest son. "She's just slowly getting adjusted; try not to take everything she says too seriously, alright?"

"Ok," Sydney nodded, wiping his nose with his arm.

"Good," Ronan stuck his fingers into Sydney's cheeks where his dimples would be, causing Sydney to giggle, pushing his hands away. "Have a good day and make sure that the others do their homework." He lightly patted Sydney on the butt as he stood up, watching as they left the room. "Sorry you had to see that," Ronan apologized to Kacy as he grabbed a folder off of the soundboard and quickly looked through it. "Suffice to say, my mother isn't my biggest fan at the moment." He closed the folder and motioned for her to follow him as he left the room. "But my brothers can do no wrong."

"Oh, I thought you were and only child," Kacy replied as she fell into step with him, her dress lightly moving around her legs.

"Nope, I have an older brother and a younger brother." Ronan replied as he nodded or waved to some workers as they passed them. They greeted him cheerfully in reply. "If I had to guess, my younger brother is probably their favorite."

"So you have middle child syndrome," Kacy nodded. "That makes sense as to why you don't talk about them."

"No, I'm just too busy to talk about them," Ronan gently corrected her. "What with my record company, paying the bills, taking care of five, technically six, new kids, working with some other would-be musicians, listening to demos, constantly being questioned for interviews by magazines and everything. It can be a hassle." He entered his office and flipped on the lights as well as the fan, loosening his tie and top two buttons of his shirt as he did so. "It doesn't help that my mom didn't want me to get into the music industry at all."

"I can see her qualms with it then." Kacy agreed taking a chair that was sitting across from his desk. "You have a nice office," she added as she looked around.

"Great view, too." Ronan motioned to the floor-to-ceiling window behind him and waited until Kacy was at his side. "You can see almost everything in LA." He pointed. "Down there is the Hard Rock Café," he pointed in another direction. "A ways back there is where the Teen Choice Awards are held, where Big Time Rush might be attending this year." He pointed somewhere else. "That's the PopTiger, Universe, and BopMe offices are." He smiled at Kacy. "And sometimes, on a really good day, you can see the ocean from here, but it depends on cloud coverage."

"It's really nice," Kacy agreed as she turned and walked back to her seat. "Breathtaking even."

"Really," Ronan agreed. He tapped his folder against his hand. "So what brought you by today?"

"Huh?" Kacy looked confused for a moment and then shook her head, laughing a little. "Oh, I don't even remember anymore. Something with Gustavo and Kelly. I forgot." She shook her head. "I've been forgetting a lot of things lately."

"It's just the stress." Ronan replied. He studied her. "Now, I know that this has nothing to do with Gustavo and Kelly. What did Kevin want this time?" He asked.

"He's just asking how we are," Kacy shrugged, smoothing back her hair. "That's all he's wanted so far. I just don't know how I'm going to tell Kendall and Katie that he wants to see them. Things might go well, but they might to badly too."

"Well, you won't know unless you tell them," Ronan replied. "Kendall's starting to figure out that something is up, when they came to the studio that one time, he seemed really distracted. I don't think he knows, but I tried to talk to him." He shook his head. "Nothing."

Kacy nodded. "He might have thought that you were trying to get really close to him or something. He does have a bit of a problem with respecting authority." She noticed Ronan's anxious look and gave him a reassuring smile. "Don't worry, the boys all like you, but if it's someone that gets like, really close, he doesn't let it happen easily."

"So I'm guessing dating doesn't go very well for you." Ronan said.

"I don't date much, no," Kacy agreed. "Katie, with an impeccable track record, can always see the flaws that a guy has when I go out with someone." She tilted her head to the side. "I don't see you date much." She pointed out.

Ronan was silent for a few moments, holding a hand over his mouth. Finally he moved his hand and gave a quick smile. "Yeah, almost as soon as I mention that I have a date, they find some way to scare her away. Most times before she even gets to the door." He smiled. "They even followed me on a date once, to scare her away. I had to call five times to apologize, luckily she understood. But I don't have much luck with women."

Kacy slowly crossed her legs. "So why did you ask me out?" She asked and then looked away. "Sorry, you weren't serious." She cleared her throat.

"I was kidding the last time that I had brought it up because I didn't think that you would take me seriously," Ronan tossed the folder aside and crossed his arms over his chest as he leaned against the front of his desk. "But the more I thought about it, the more that I thought it would be a good idea." He leaned forward as Kacy's mouth dropped open, trying to find something to say. "Kace, do you want to go to dinner with me sometime?"

Kacy finally closed her mouth. She cleared her throat and pushed her hair behind her ears, her neck flushing a light shade of red. He mistook her silence for the idea of turning him down and he crossed his legs.

"I think that we would have a good time, but if you don't want to, that's fine too." He said, easing his disappointment.

"No, it's not that," Kacy got to her feet and stood in front of him, coming up to his nose in her heels. "It's just Kendall and Katie and your kids." She lightly touched his arm. "And you just said that you have magazines asking for interview this whole time, what if-"

"You're forgetting that I've managed to keep the magazines from figuring out that I've adopted them until they announce their abuse themselves." Ronan reminded her. "If I can make that happen, I'm sure us dating wouldn't be a problem." He grinned. "Besides, I found this new restaurant that I wanted to try out and I think you'll like it to."

"What about Gustavo and Kelly?" Kacy asked.

"What about them?" Ronan's eyebrow quirked and he placed his hands on his chest. "I know what I'm doing, trust me."

Ronan's smile was infectious. "Alright," Kacy agreed after a moment. "I'd love to go to dinner with you."

"Sweet," Ronan's smile widened. "Now just one more thing."

"What's that?"

"Do you mind driving me to my apartment?"

* * *

><p>James stretched his arms over his head as he walked through the PalmWoods lobby, looking for someone to hang out with. Katie and Lizzie were somewhere, the Jacksons didn't go to Rocque Records like they usually did, Carlos was off sulking since Stephanie wasn't talking to him, Logan was doing homework, and Kendall was hauled up in his room doing who knows what.<p>

"Hey ladies," James greeted the Jennifers as they entered the building. "How about we get together and-"

"No," The Jennifers replied in unison, each holding up their palms as they passed them.

James didn't let that get him down. "Did you forget that little make-out session that we had during the party? 'Cause if you did, I would be _glad_ to remind you." He laughed a little as the three adopted looks of horror and hurried by him. "I'm telling you, they were all over me," he said to Guitar Dude as he passed by him. Guitar Dude grinned and gave James a thumbs up as he continued on by. James's smile faded and he looked around, grinning when he spotted Jo sitting in a chair, looking towards the ground, not really doing anything. James walked over and dropped down into the seat next to her. "Hey Jo, how's it going?" He greeted her.

Jo jumped, letting out a soft cry as she turned towards him, her brown eyes wide. She had been so deep in thought that she didn't hear him coming up behind her. James noticed and frowned as she gave a nervous laugh in reply.

"Hey James," She greeted, tucking her legs under her as she shifted in her chair. "You scared me. What's up?"

"Oh, not much, I'm just looking for something to do." James replied as he tossed his hair. "The others aren't around and I'm bored."

"Well, I'm glad that you thought of me to cure your boredom." Jo gave him a warm smile which melted into a frown almost instantly. She continuously glanced at her hip, where her phone was sitting in her jeans pocket. James noticed and followed her gaze.

"Are you waiting for someone to call?" he asked her.

"No," Jo replied, shaking her head. "I just think…it keeps vibrating. You know, when you think you have a message when you don't." She explained.

"Ah, I getcha." James replied. "So what do you want to do? We could hang out at the pool, or go to the café or-"He threw up his arms to stretch and let out a cry as he hit something with his hand. James whipped his head around to see Riley rubbing the side of her face and Rhuben laughing at her. "Oh, sorry Beautiful, I didn't see you there." He apologized as he quickly got to his feet.

Riley flinched and took a step back as she rubbed the side of her face. "It's ok, Handsome," she replied gruffly. "I'm used to it."

"Especially with how many times that Pat would hit us in the face with a ball when we were growing up." Rhuben added, looking a bit perturbed at the memory. "Come to think of it, he still does that.

James and Jo laughed as Riley moved her hand from her face to make sure that she wasn't bleeding and held up her hand as proof. "See, no harm done." She gave a half-smile.

"Are you sure?" James reached out to lightly touch her face, noticing that she flinched again. "Sorry." He apologized.

"Its fine," Riley replied and changed the subject by grabbing onto his hand, pressing her palm against his. "Dude, you have some really big hands." She noted, comparing his significantly larger ones to her smaller ones.

"Or you just have tiny hands." James replied as he laced their fingers together.

"Mm, it makes sense," Riley conceded and motioned between herself and her twin. "We were supposed to be born in December instead of September. We're premies." She added as an explanation when she noticed the somewhat stunned expression on James' face.

"Well, I think its better that you're small," James said as he let go of her hand and flashed her a toothy smile. "It makes you cuter."

Jo suddenly moved forward and grabbed onto Riley's arm for a second. "Riles, can I talk to you?" She held up a finger. "Just for a minute, I promise." She pulled Riley over towards the check-in desk, ignoring Bitters' glare at them as he continued to eat his plate of fries. "Oh my god," Jo said as soon as they were out of ear-shot. "You like James."

Riley looked a little surprised as she gazed at her friend. "How did you know that?" She asked, too surprised to even try and deny it.

"Oh please, getting people together is my life," Jo scoffed as she placed her hand on her chest. "You think I wouldn't notice when one of my friends starts to like someone." Her lips curled. "So, spill the dirt, when did you realize you liked him?" Riley shrugged, keeping her mouth shut. "Come on," Jo pleaded. "I know you don't like to open up much, but you can't keep something like this from me. I'll die."

"You won't actually, die, Jo-Jo." Riley reminded her.

"But it'll drive me insane until I know," Jo said, clasping her hands together.

Riley sighed, twisting the bottom of her ponytail around her finger. "Call me clichéd, but I've liked him since I met him." She looked towards the ceiling, feeling stupid. "I guess I just didn't know it until recently."

"Oh my gosh, this is so exciting," Jo said with a bright smile. She continued to speak before Riley could even open her mouth. "This is really interesting," she turned back and grabbed onto Riley's arms. "You have to ask him out and tell me what happens, you guys are so different that it seems like it won't work, but they do say opposites attract."

"So what if I like him?" Riley blushed a little as she pushed Jo's hands off of her arms. "We couldn't date anyway because of the rule between our bands." She raised and lowered one shoulder. "Besides, it's probably better if I didn't say anything, just in case it makes things weird."

Jo gave her a curious look. "Do you really think it would?"

Riley shrugged. "Whenever I broke up with one of my exes, all except for two, things were pretty weird afterwards." She looked away, rubbing her right arm, obviously uncomfortable. She and her siblings never really liked to talk about their feelings about anything, but since it was Jo and she knew that she wouldn't say anything about it, it made her feel a bit better about opening up. "I wouldn't want that to happen here too."

"But you guys are such good friends as it is," Jo insisted. "I'm sure that things will be fine."

"Maybe," Riley looked doubtful. "But I also have to take into consideration how everyone else would react to it. My brothers and sister wouldn't mind, I know that for sure, but the others," she shrugged and looked at her watch. "I have to get going, Rhu and I are doing homework with Logan." She noticed the eager smile on Jo's face and sighed. "Would you _please_ leave me alone about this?" She demanded.

Jo nodded and crossed her fingers, holding them over her heart. "I promise." She said.

Riley looked her up and down, obviously not believing her, but nodded. "Alright," she hitched her backpack up her shoulder. "I'll see you later." She walked back over to Rhuben and tapped her shoulder. "C'mon, Logan should be here soon." She briefly glanced at James out of the corner of her eye. "See you later, Handsome."

"See ya, guys." James returned.

Rhuben stayed silent until the two of them were settling down at an empty table on the pool deck. She dropped her backpack to the ground and sat down, pulling her feet up onto the edge of her seat as she slouched down, tilting her head back, allowing the sun to hit her face. "What did Jo want to talk about?"

"Well for one thing, sometimes she needs to belt up and get out of my business." Riley said as she crossed her legs, closing her eyes.

"She must have annoyed you that much if you're actually starting to take offense with it," Rhuben remarked. She thought for a moment. "Does this have to do with James? Why don't you just get it over with and tell him how you feel? It would be better to know his answer instead of waiting for so long like you did with Ian."

"Yeah, I should have listened to you on that one," Riley agreed, keeping her eyes closed. "It would have saved me a lot of trouble. But like I told Jo, if things don't work out, I don't want things to become really weird. And then if they do work out, I don't know how the rest of the guys are going to react." She paused. "Especially Logan."

"You should have heard what he said about Dak," Rhuben said as she shook her head. "I still can't believe he thinks that he can dictate who we date."

Riley stayed silent for a moment. "Do you think that-"

"Hey guys," Logan greeted Riley and Rhuben as he walked over to the table that they were sitting at in the PalmWoods pool, a smoothie in hand. "Sorry I'm late. Gustavo was working us really hard today." He dropped his backpack to the ground as he gave them a curious look. "We figured that you guys would have dropped by."

"Yeah, well, we were kind of busy being insulted by Ronan's mom." Riley replied through gritted teeth, obviously still mad at her comment from earlier that day. "And I didn't think you'd want to see why my stage name is Rage."

Rhuben noticed Logan's confused look and explained. "His parents dropped by the studio today and we basically got told off by his mom with everything that she didn't like about the way Ronan is living his life." She merely shrugged as she went back to examining her nails. "It's not our fault that they don't like what he's doing, but they don't have to take it out on us."

"Sorry guys, that's really got to suck," Logan said sympathetically as he started to take out his school books. He didn't know the McGuires at all, but from all of the complaints that the Jacksons made about them, he wouldn't be surprised if they were actually that bad. He took a sip of smoothie before holding it out to the twins. "Do you want some?"

"No," Rhuben shook her head, tucking her strand of purple hair behind her ear. "I'm not hungry…or thirsty…whatever. I don't want it." Riley took the smoothie and took a sip before handing it back to him.

Logan, Riley, and Rhuben always did homework together when they got the chance as he helped them with their least favorite subjects, math and science. While Sydney seemed to be able to help them easily with science, he resorted to helping them with math, especially since he liked numbers so much. It was some sort of a tradition that they had since they had lived in Texas, where they always did all of their homework together. Now that they had reunited back in LA (which was a little over a year ago) they had started it up again. They had also brought back their tradition of hanging out on Fridays after the Jacksons had dinner in apartment 2J. It was a way for them to strengthen the friendship that they had years ago.

"You don't know the half of it," Rhuben replied to his former comment with a slight roll of her eyes. She looked down at Logan's textbook before dropping her feet from the edge of her seat and leaning forward. "Uh, Logie-Bear," she smirked at the wince that he did whenever he was called 'Logie-Bear' by her and her sister. "You're supposed to be helping us with math, not on History."

"Huh?" Logan grabbed the book and looked over it. "Oh, wow, sorry, I don't know how I grabbed the wrong book." He tossed it back onto the table as he leaned back in his seat. He looked up and his eyes followed something behind them.

Riley and Rhuben turned around and identical smirks slid onto their faces when they spotted Camille walking back and forth across the pool deck, reciting lines from a script that she was holding in her hand, gesturing wildly with her arms.

"Alright," Riley said as she turned back around, reaching out and tapping Logan on the hand. "Go over there and ask her out." She motioned to Camille with a slight jerk of her head.

"I…" Logan shook his head. "I don't want to." He twiddled his thumbs together.

"Well that's obviously a lie," Rhuben replied contradicted him, shortly. "Anyone can see that you want to ask her out." She pursed her lips a little bit. "I think, what the problem is, is that you're too scared of rejection." She rested her arms on her knees as she brought her feet back up to her chair. "Everyone is scared of rejection, Logie, but you know that Camille likes you, she's not going to turn you down."

"I know that," Logan lowered his voice as he leaned forward. "I've just…never asked a girl out before."

"Really?" Riley exchanged a looked with Rhuben. "But…you've gone out on a date, right?"

"Only ones that James has set up." Logan explained.

"Huh, that makes sense." Rhuben started to lightly tap her foot against the edge of her seat. "Well, you could wait for her to ask you out." She shrugged. "There's no shame in that, I asked out some of my old boyfriends." She studied Logan's face as he hesitated. "And obviously you would rather ask her yourself and be a 'big man' than have her ask you and be a 'wuss' slash loser." She used air-quotes around those words. Logan raised an eyebrow. "At least that's the way that I would think that James would say it."

"I think you got it pretty spot-on," Riley said as she air-clapped for her twin, who gave a toothy smile in reply. Logan chuckled quietly. "What's so funny?" she asked him.

"Well, I just haven't seen you two act so silly in a while." Logan replied.

"That's sweet, but don't' try to change the subject." Rhuben held up her hand. "So this is what you're going to do, we're going to call Camille over here, and _you're_ going to ask her out, alright?" She stood up in her seat before Logan could stop her. "Yo, Camille!" She called, her voice echoing over the PalmWoods Pool deck. As Camille turned towards them, Riley and Rhuben quickly got out of their seats and hid behind a potted plant.

She smiled when she spotted Logan and started walking over towards him. Logan gave a forced smile, waving back. _They're so gonna pay for this one. _

"Hey Logan, what's up?" She asked, sitting in the seat across from him. She looked around. "Weren't Riley and Rhuben just here?"

"Yeah, but they had to leave for something." Logan replied, shaking his head. He laughed nervously. "It's cool that I, uh, found you, Camille."

"It is?" Camille asked.

"Yeah, uh, I, uh, wanted to ask you something." Logan said.

"Ok." Camille said. She peered at Logan. "Logan, are you feeling ok?"

"I'm feeling fine." Logan grinned, nodding. He wiped some sweat off of his forehead. "Well, I guess I'm a little nervous." He quickly contradicted himself.

"Do you want to know what I do for nervousness?" Camille asked, placing her script down onto the table. "First, what I do is I start to take some deep breaths, just to get my breathing under control. Then you start to meditate, so you can free your mind and rid it of your worrying thoughts." She rested her arms on the table, leaning towards him. "I like to do a lot of yoga, it's relaxing as well as challenging, and maybe you should try that too."

"I don't think that yoga will help me with this, but thanks." Logan thanked her. He tried taking a few quick, deep breaths. But that just made things a bit worse.

"Logan, are you sure you're feeling-"

"Camille, do you want to go out with me sometime?" Logan asked her, trying not to lose the nerve as he did so. "Maybe to the movies or something?" Camille looked at him for a few moments before grinning widely. She reached out a hand and smacked him across the face. "Ow!" Logan grabbed his cheek, which turned red pretty quickly. "What was that fo-"

Camille grabbed Logan by the front of his shirt and gave him a kiss before letting him go, slightly shoving him away from her. "Pick me up at 7 on Saturday." She said with a little bounce and a wave before leaving the PalmWoods Pool, a light gait in her step.

"I really got to talk to her about that," Riley commented as she and Rhuben walked back over to Logan, pulling themselves out from behind the potted plant. She laughed a little as she pushed Logan's hand away from his cheek and tilted his head so she could look at it. "Just put some ice on it and you'll be fine." She told him.

"I'll remember to keep the freezer stocked with ice packs." Logan said as he lightly touched his cheek again, hissing at the stinging pain.

"So I'm guessing that that kiss meant that she said yes?" Rhuben asked. She scratched her forehead as she looked around when she heard a shout and a splash accompanied by hysterical laughter, trying to see where it came from. "Not that I'm surprised," she dropped her arm to her side. "She's been gaga about you since she first saw you."

"Usually that would be flattering but it's also kind of weird," Logan remarked "I mean, not many girls actually like me."

"Well the one thing we can say is," Riley started and then nodded at Rhuben and the two spoke in unison. "They'd be crazy not to."

Logan smiled and nodded as he watched them grab their backpacks and leave the PalmWoods, talking quietly to each other. He grabbed his backpack and headed back up to apartment 2J. He entered his bedroom and was surprised to find Kendall lying on his bed, writing in a notebook. Kendall jumped a little when Logan entered the room and moved to cover his notebook.

"Hey, what's that?" Logan asked as he dropped his backpack onto his bed, kicking off his shoes. "Watcha up to?"

"Not much," Kendall replied. "Just writing." He moved his blond hair from his face. "Where are Carlos and James?"

"Wreaking havoc somewhere, I'm sure." Logan replied as he dropped down onto his bed and started to unpack his backpack. "I just asked Camille out." He said, grabbing Kendall's attention again. Kendall raised his large eyebrows, looking shocked. "Yeah, I know, who would have ever thought that I would have the guts to finally ask her out?" He rolled his eyes. "Landy and Bella helped me get the courage to do it, though."

"There's nothing wrong with that," Kendall reminded him. He scratched his eyebrow as he tilted his head to the side. "I'm just glad that you finally asked her out. The whole 'will they-won't they' thing was getting kind of old."

Logan threw a pillow at him. "Gee thanks."

"You're welcome," Kendall raised an arm and caught the pillow that was thrown at him and tossed it back. He sat up and held out his note book to Logan. "Hey, do you mind looking this over and letting me know what you think." Logan nodded as he grabbed the note book. "While we're working on the vocals for _Show Me_ and _All Over Again _I figured that I would try some writing in my spare time."

"No problem," Logan said as he started to read over the lyrics. "I'm sure it's good."

_I don't know why you always get so insecure  
>I wish you could see what I see when you're looking in<br>the mirror  
>And why won't you believe me when I say<br>That to me you get more beautiful, everyday_

_When you're looking at the magazines_  
><em>And thinking that you'll never measure up<em>  
><em>You're wrong<em>

"Hm," Logan tossed the notebook back over to Kendall, whose look of apprehension turned to full-blown anxiety as he waited for Logan's response. "That's, like, really, _really_ good man." He congratulated him. "I'm seriously impressed." He crossed his legs and picked up his math textbook and opened his own notebook to get started on the work that was due the next day.

Logan rested his chin in his hand, thinking about the date that he and Camille had planned for that weekend. It was weird to him, to be going on a date. He had been on double and quadruple dates that James had set them all up on, but never on an honest-to-god, date. He hadn't really ever asked anyone out before and all it took was a small shove from some of his best friends. Why had he been so worried about it before? All he knew was if things didn't work out, it would probably make things awkward for a while.

_Don't think like that when you haven't even gone out yet. _He scolded himself. _You like Camille, she's cool. And for whatever reason she really likes you and you have a lot in common. So why would things not work out?_

"Is something wrong Logie?" Kendall asked, causing the smarter boy to look up. "Normally you start working on homework as soon as you open it, but you're just staring into space." He then grinned. "Or are you thinking about Camille?"

"Maybe," Logan gave a smile in return. "Hey Kendall, what was your inspiration behind the song you're writing?" He asked after a moment.

"Not much," Kendall merely shrugged. "Just some ideas and thoughts."

Logan tapped his pen against his notebook. "Is it about a specific girl?"

"Maybe."

"Do I know her?"

"Sort of." Kendall stared at his friend intently. "Why?"

Logan turned back to his textbook. "Just curious."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **Alright, now you got to see Ronan's parents. His Dad's ok, really goofy. But his mother is something else and you can see why the Jacksons don't like her. Riley confesses her feelings for James, Logan asks Camille out, and you see the beginning of the song Cover Girl. And of course the drama started in the last two chapters and it'll only get better from there.

I have big things planned for this story that you definitely won't see coming. Carphanie, Patrick, Noah, Katie, and Lizzie as well as more music stuff will be in the next chapter.

Cheers,

-Riles


	15. It's a BoyGirl Thing

**.:Chapter Fifteen – It's a Boy/Girl Thing:.**

* * *

><p>"And now she won't answer any of my phone calls of texts." Patrick said as he wrapped his arms around his legs, a slight pout on his face. "And I don't know what to do."<p>

"In her defense you didn't actually give her an answer when she asked you out," Ronan pointed out from where he was sitting by his son on the bed, in a white undershirt and black slacks. Both of their feet were bare. He reached out and lightly traced Patrick's ankle tattoo of barbed wire before noticing Patrick's confused look. "For girls, not giving a completely straight yes-or-no answer means that you might as well be turning them down."

"No wonder girls are confusing," Patrick rested his chin on his knees. "They don't say what they mean and they don't make things easy for boys."

Ronan laughed and crossed his legs so he was sitting cross-legged. He then winced and uncrossed his legs, rubbing his thigh. "I must be getting old if I can't even sit down cross-legged without it hurting." He remarked.

"I've been saying that for years," Noah quipped from where he was lying on the bed, listening to the two's conversation. He laughed and moved out of the way as Ronan tried to take a swipe at his hair. "She won't talk to me either." He added.

"Sorry Buddy," Patrick reached out and rubbed his brother's head. "If I knew this was going to happen, I would have given her my answer sooner." Noah merely shrugged in reply, not seeming to take any offense to it.

Ronan sighed as he thought about it. "Ok, you want to go out with her, right?" He asked Patrick and he blushed and nodded, resting his forehead on his knees now. "It's so funny how you I could ask you this and you immediately start acting like Noah." He said to himself before continuing. "So the thing we have to figure out first is why did you turn her down? Are you afraid of hurting her?" Patrick nodded. "Emotionally, because you're so secretive?"

"Physically." Patrick's muffled voice replied.

Ronan frowned and studied the twin boys. "I'm not sure I get what you mean."

"You've heard the studies," Patrick lifted his head again. "If you've been abused as a kid you have a 30% chance or whatever, of being abusive too. I wouldn't want to hurt her if I get mad or anything." He then looked away. "And, well, that's not the only problem. I kind of…have a crush on Jo too."

"You're allowed to like more than one person at a time," Ronan reminded him. "It doesn't make you a bad person if you do."

"I know, but in the off-chance that Jo actually would want to go out with me, I would want to." Patrick ground his finger into Ronan's comforter. "And I wouldn't want to hurt Katie's feelings over it, although I doubt that Jo would like me that way."

The door suddenly opened as Sydney entered the room, closing the door behind him. "What are we doing?" He asked as he walked over to the bed and climbed up, sitting on his knees behind Patrick as he rested his arms on his older brother's shoulders, looking around.

"I was talking to Ronan about Katie." Patrick replied as he grabbed Sydney under the arm and lifted him up over his head, resting him on his lap.

"Oh," Sydney smiled cheekily. "And how you screwed things up?" He smiled and high-fived Noah as the two started to laugh. Ronan chuckled and immediately stopped when he spotted the pout on Patrick's face. They all looked up as Riley and Rhuben entered Ronan's room.

"Who are you going on a date with?" Rhuben asked as they closed the door as well.

"How'd you know I was going on a date?" Ronan asked as he turned to them.

"We could smell the cologne all the way on the other side of the apartment," Riley replied as she looked Ronan up and down before disappearing into his closet, turning the light on as she went. "It's a nice one, by the way." She called back.

"Excuse me," Patrick said with attitude. "We were talking."

"About Katie?" Rhuben asked as she rolled onto the bed, resting her head on Noah's lower back. "We already gave you our opinions on it."

"I wanted to get an opinion from two points of view," Patrick replied as he shuffled his feet on the bed. "So sue me."

"You didn't answer our question," Riley commented as she walked out of Ronan's closet, holding up a blue and white pin-striped shirt. She walked over to Ronan and held it up to him as she studied it and then shook her head, tossing it onto an empty space on his bed. "Who are you going out with?"

"Kacy," Ronan replied as he ran a hand through his hair. "Are you ok with that?"

"Why wouldn't we be?" Sydney asked innocently, turning his big blue eyes up to his adopted father as Riley went back into the closet.

"I don't know, because you managed to run off every other woman that I could have potentially gone out with." Ronan replied patiently.

"You didn't really like them anyway." Rhuben pointed out, resting her arms on her stomach. "They were all after your money anyway." She added. "Well, except for that one lady with the-"

"Lazy eye?" Riley jumped in, her laughter echoing from the closet. "And the weird looking purse and the-"

"Bad smelling perfume." Rhuben concluded. "It made our eyes water every time she came around."

"In my defense, that was a pity date." Ronan said with a light laugh.

His laughter deepened as Patrick and Sydney shot out a 'yeah right' in disbelief. He turned and held out his arms as Riley came back out of the closet with two different shirts in her hand. A plain blue one and a plain white one. She also had a leather jacket draped over her arm. He pulled on a blue shirt which, according to Riley, brought out his eyes, and then tried on the white one since white and black went together. Finally, she ordered him to put on the leather jacket and everyone immediately agreed that it was the best one.

"I have to admit," Ronan turned back and forth in his mirror. "You did a great job, Riles." He turned and gave his daughter a kiss on the head, only after slowly moving forward, making sure she didn't get scared away.

"You have style for miles." Noah added.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you." Riley replied as she did a deep curtsy.

"Careful," Ronan pushed her by the head to make her fall onto the bed. "You don't want your ego to swell even more."

"Too late." Rhuben and Patrick chorused causing Riley to stick out her lower lip and let out a little 'humph' in reply. "So where are you taking Mama Knight?" Rhuben asked as Ronan grabbed his shoes and started to pull them on.

"To Dinner." Ronan replied as he looked at her over his shoulder. "That new restaurant that we found."

"I got that, but where are you taking her _after_?" Patrick asked. Sydney leaned back against his brother's chest and started to play with his fingers, painfully pulling them back. "Getting ice cream is a bit too clichéd, you don't want to do a movie, because you can't talk during a movie unless you want to be shushed and just going for a walk is boring." He thought for a moment and then made a snapping sound with his mouth, as his fingers were being pulled. "How about you go mini-golfing!"

"I'm bad at Mini-Golf." Ronan frowned.

"All the better to play it," Riley pulled out her pigtails and started to run a hand through her hair. "You want the girl to win every now and then." She raised and lowered her right shoulder. "Besides, we don't know if she's any good as well."

"There's an idea," Ronan got to his feet and grabbed his wallet off of his dresser and shoved it into his back pocket. "Alright, I'm going to go now. Don't stay up too late, you have a show to do tomorrow and since it's a benefit concert, I want it to go smoothly." He said and his kids scrambled off of his bed to follow him to the front door. "Have whatever you want for dinner, just as long as Patrick doesn't use the stove."

"You blow up a pot of mashed potatoes once and you're branded for life." He said with a whine.

"Later," Ronan waved and grabbed the keys to his 2012 Mercedes Benz SLR off of the hook rack by the door.

"Bye." They called after him.

Sydney ran over to the couch and grabbed the TV remote, jumping backwards onto the couch as soon as the door closed behind him. He started to scroll through the channels, looking for something to watch as Riley started to pull out pots and pans to make dinner with. Rhuben grabbed onto her laptop and went to a rock beat, causing it to come out of the speakers loudly, working Patrick and Noah through the steps of a routine that they were working on for their show the next day.

Five minutes later, Sydney's head popped over the back of the couch. "Someone's at the door!" He called over the music.

Rhuben pressed the spacebar on her computer before turning around and hurrying towards the door. "Maybe Ronan forgot something." She said at the confused expressions on her siblings' faces.

"Then why would he ring the doorbell?" Riley pointed out.

"Good point," Rhuben agreed and then opened the door. Her face fell when she saw Dak on the other side of the door. "Don't even bother asking, because I'm just going to say 'no'." She said as soon as he opened his mouth.

"You're going to have to give me a chance sometime," Dak replied, undaunted.

"Maybe," Rhuben shrugged. "But it doesn't have to be now," she moved to close the door, but Dak held his hand firmly against it, keeping her from budging it even an inch. "We're kind of busy." She added, realizing that the door wasn't moving.

"Yeah," Dak's eyes shifted behind her. "I can see that." He removed his hand, licking his lips. "C'mon, I have something set up that you're really going to like, and you don't want to miss it."

"Wan to bet?"

"I could try."

"If I say 'yes' would you stop bugging me?" Rhuben asked, resting a hand on her hip.

"Mhm," Dak smiled and nodded. "But just so we're clear," he lightly held his hands up. "I'm just asking for one date and see how things go. Not, like a committed relationship or anything."

Rhuben studied him for a few moments as she twisted her mouth to the side. "Alright," Rhuben finally agreed as she rubbed her forehead warily. "When do you want to-"

"Right now," Dak reached out and grabbed onto her arm. "If that's alright," he added, leaning to the side and looking at Riley, Patrick, Noah, and Sydney, who were watching with rapt attention, all looking amused.

"Right now?" Rhuben repeated, looking skeptical.

"Trust me, you'll like it," Dak said gently as he moved back in front of her and smiled warmly.

Rhuben rolled her eyes before turning on her heel to glare at her siblings, who grinned and waved in reply. "I hate you." She said and then sighed before grabbing a set of keys off of a hook by the door. "I'll be back before Ronan gets home." She then stared pointedly at Sydney. "Don't let him get into the ice cream." She added. "I just bought it and I want to save it for later." She gave a short wave. "I'll see you later." She added to her siblings before closing the door behind her.

"Come on," Dak nodded down the hallway and the two of them headed down to the parking lot towards the parking lot. Once there they climbed into Dak's truck and he peeled out, heading towards the beach. "I'm glad that you're finally giving me a chance." He truthfully said after a while of silence, turning down the radio. "I'm a bit surprised, actually."

"Well," Rhuben shrugged lightly. "I figured that there was so many times that I could say 'no', but you wouldn't stop asking anyway, and I wanted you to stop."

"Ouch," Dak laughed as he turned onto another road. "Way to kick a man when he's already down."

"You're down, but not out." Rhuben corrected, moving her hair from her face, rotating her purple ring around her index finger.

"Good to know." Dak replied.

They continued driving for another twenty minutes before they arrived at the beach. But instead of pulling into a parking space, Dak drove right onto the beach, pulling in a ways before cutting off the power to the car. Rhuben frowned as she looked out her window at the dark water.

"I didn't say anything about going swimming." She said, turning to him with a confused expression.

"We're not going swimming." Dak replied and got out of his seat, opening his door as wide as possible. "Stay here." He instructed before closing the door loudly. Rhuben shrugged and leaned back against her seat, waiting. She could hear Dak messing in the back of the truck, before he walked back over to her side of the truck and opened the door. He held out his hand and Rhuben placed hers in his, giving him a skeptical look as she helped her down from the car, closing the door behind her. "This way."

He led her to the back of the truck and lowered the flatbed, jumping into the back before pulling Rhuben up behind him. He then turned and motioned behind him to where two small plates of food had been set up. "Hungry?" He asked her.

"What's that?" Rhuben asked as he pointed.

"I figured that instead of being like every other guy on the planet that would take his date out to dinner or whatever, that we could just eat on the beach," he then pointed to the dark sky. "And look at the stars." His grin widened.

Rhuben scratched the side of her neck as she looked at him, trying to keep a smile from sliding onto her face. "What if someone comes around?" she asked. Dak nodded, knowing that that she was talking about word getting around to the magazines and gossip websites as well as spreading through their fans on their ScuttleButter and MyFace pages.

"That's what he's for," Dak pointed a little ways behind her and she turned around to see a police car sitting at the top of a sand-dune, his flood lights on. "I found the officer that arrested Robert, mentioned that I was a friend of yours and asked if he could do me a favor and close the beach for us for a while."

Rhuben gave him a stunned look as she turned back around. "You really thought this through, didn't you?"

"Yep." Dak sat down, stretching out his legs as he grabbed a plate and motioned for her to sit down. She did so and he handed the plate to her before grabbing his own. He shrugged, looking embarrassed. "I actually had this planed for a while."

"What made you go through it today?" Rhuben asked as she picked at the coleslaw on her plate.

"WayneWayne, actually." Dak replied as he licked mustard off of his thumb from his hot dog. "He was complaining to me about having to help Camille get ready for her date with Logan this weekend-"

"Wow, he got friendzoned." Rhuben remarked.

"I know, really." Dak agreed. "And he basically said that I shouldn't give you 'no' for an answer." He smirked. "And here we are."

"Here we are." Rhuben agreed, turning her plate in her hands before picking up her hotdog and moving to take a bite out of it. She paused and moved it away from her mouth. "You didn't make this did you? 'Cause I know that you usually make dinner for you and your sister, when your mom's maid or whatever isn't around, but I have to say you're not the best cook in the world."

"Relax," Dak chuckled. "I got this from take out."

"Oh good, so it's not going to kill me." Rhuben replied before taking a bite. She ate half of the hot dog before putting it back down on the plate. "You have a nice truck," she complimented him. "If I had to guess it's a 2009 Black Dodge Hemi Ram?" She asked.

"Yeah," Dak looked impressed. "How did you know that?"

"I love cars," Rhuben replied simply with a modest shrug. "My dad really got me into it as well as mechanics." She brought her knees up to her chest. "It didn't really help that one of my boyfriends was as obsessed as I was." She nodded slowly. "He had a nice Mustang."

"How am I supposed to compete with that?" Dak joked.

"You're not." Rhuben replied and picked up a napkin. "You have mustard on your lip." She told him with a little laugh as she tossed it at him. Dak grabbed the napkin and quickly wiped his mouth as he finished what was left on his plate.

"Oh yeah," Dak nodded, stretching out his legs. He noticed Rhuben shivering a little and grabbed a jacket that was sitting beside him and handed it to her. "That was…Mike, right?" He noticed Rhuben's confused expression as she took the coat. "I figured it would be cold." He explained.

"Uh," Rhuben wrapped her arms around her stomach, the sleeves of the coat falling over her hands. "Do you mind if we just sit in the truck?"

"Not at all." Dak replied quickly. He got to his feet and jumped down from the flatbed of the truck, waiting for Rhuben to get down as well. He walked over and opened the passenger side door and helped Rhuben back into the truck before rounding the car to get back into the driver's seat. He started to pat his pocket for his keys.

"To answer your other question," Rhuben shook her head, correcting him. "Mike was Riley's boyfriend, Matt was mine." She shook her head a bit bitterly and then looked over at him, her eyebrows raised. "I'm surprised you remembered that." She said honestly.

"Why wouldn't I?" Dak asked as he paused in turning on the car, giving her a serious look. "You think that I would_ want_ to act like one of your ex-boyfriends." He gave a short smirk. "If anything, it's a learning experience." He tilted his head to the side as he dropped his arms. "Just out of curiosity, have you or Riles told the other guys about your exes yet?"

"No," Rhuben shook her head, absentmindedly pulling at the bottom of her side-ponytail. "They probably wouldn't understand _why_ we went out with them in the first place if we told them. Plus, it'll just bring up a lot of stuff we're not ready to talk about yet."

"But you told me." Dak reminded her.

"That's because you were the first sorta-friend that we made here," Rhuben replied with a slight shake of her head. She ventured giving him a small smile. "And we knew that you wouldn't tell."

"I would never." Dak agreed with a warm smile.

"Good to know," Rhuben replied. She tilted her head to the side as she thought for a moment. "Come to think of it," Rhuben looked a bit surprised as she thought about it. "I don't think that we've ever dated guys that weren't best friends or brothers." She noted.

Dak laughed as he put the keys in the ignition and turned the car on. "It took you _that _long to figure that out?" He asked and put the truck into reverse, putting his arm on her seat so he could see behind him. "I've known that for a while." He ignored Rhuben's hard stare and pressed his foot on the break to move the truck into drive. "I'll get you home before your curfew." He flashed her a smile. "And I won't try to kiss you or anything, just in case you're not ready for it yet."

"What a gentleman," Rhuben dead-panned as she rolled her eyes, although there was a small smile on her face.

"I try." Dak said as he carefully drove off of the beach. "So," he said slowly as he pulled up to a red light. "Did you have fun?"

"Surprisingly," Rhuben nodded slowly. "Yes."

* * *

><p>"How do I look?" Kacy asked as she walked out of her room and spun in a quick circle, the bottom of her black dress glaring out. She placed her hands on her hips and smiled at the boys and Katie. "And be honest."<p>

"You look amazing, Mama Knight." Carlos stated with a bright smile as he started to nod rapidly. "Really, amazing."

"Amazing." James agreed with a smile frozen on his face.

"Amazing." Logan repeated.

Kendall put down his hockey magazine and looked over at his friends with a disgusted look on his face. "Don't _ever_ go near my mom again." He commanded them before turning back to his mother. "You really do look great." He said truthfully as he looked her up and down. He paused, thinking back to what he had seen on her phone that one time he had looked at it. "Uh," he turned on the couch and looked at her. "Where are you going?"

"I have a date," Kacy replied hesitantly as she tilted her head to the side, putting in an earring.

Kendall and Katie exchanged glances, both knowing what it meant. Possibly dealing with a man that tried too hard to be their friend, or someone that tried to bribe them with elaborate gifts, or one that ignored them completely. There was also a man that had so much BO that they had to change their furniture every time he had come over to their house. Kendall had worked triple and quadruple shifts for about two months to make sure that his paycheck along with his mother's from being a waitress, worked out so they could continue to buy them. He only wondered who she was going out with this time.

"With who?" Katie asked quietly, asking his silent question.

Kacy hesitated for a few moments, staring at the five teenagers in front of her before finally replying, carefully clasping her hands together and resting them on the front of her dress. "I'm going out with Ronan." She replied.

"Oh," James spoke up. "So you mean like a business dinner thing?"

"No," Kacy replied patiently. "I mean like an actual date." She lowered her chin. "Like we're going to dinner, kind of date." She waited for someone to say something. "An actual, honest-to-god, date with Ronan." She finally reiterated.

_With Ronan? _Kendall's face twitched a little bit. He didn't like the idea of his mom dating in general, but if it was with him, he didn't think that it would make much of a difference. He looked over at Katie, but she pointedly looked away from him and to their mother.

"I think you look great mom," Katie said with a bright smile. "Have fun." She then rolled her eyes as she slouched in her seat as she turned on the TV. "At least _someone's_ going out around here." She muttered to herself.

"Uh, I sense a family moment here," Logan said as he got to his feet, dragging James and Logan with him. "We're just going to go down to the lobby and annoy Bitters until we're sure you guys are done talking." He flashed a smile and the three quickly shuffled out of the room.

"Are you guys sure that you're ok with this?" Kacy asked as she walked closer to her son and daughter, studying them intently. "I mean, I don't want things to be really weird with everyone if you're not ok with it." She reached out and smoothed Kendall's hair. "I can call Ronan and tell him to call things off."

"No," Kendall got to his feet and rested his hands on his mother's shoulders. "Mom, you deserve to have some fun too, and we both like Ronan, so it's not like we're going to try and chase him away or anything." He added and Katie nodded in agreement. "Go on the date, have fun."

"Are you sure?" Kacy turned to Kendall.

"Geez, just go!" Katie snapped as she turned her glare to her mother. "You know you want to go, so just go." She got to her feet and started to lightly pushed her mother towards the front door. "Now go on, shoo. Have a great time. Don't mind us; we'll be fine on our own waiting for you to get back." She pushed her mother out the door and closed it behind her. "At least you're finding something to do out here."

"What's your problem?" Kendall asked as Katie turned and headed towards her room.

"You don't get it, Kendall." Katie took a deep breath before turning on her heel. She raised her arms up before slapping them to her sides again. "I _never_ wanted to come here!"

"Wanted to go where?" Kendall asked in confusion.

"Here," Katie pointed to the floor. "To LA. To California. I _never_ wanted to come here! I didn't even get asked if I wanted to. I was just picked up, having to leave my whole life behind in Minnesota, and dumped here!" Kendall frowned and got to his feet as Katie crossed her arms over her chest, really getting into it now. "And whether you realized it not, Hollywood _has_ changed you." She snapped accusingly. "You broke your promise!"

"What are you talking about?" Kendall demanded. "How have I changed?"

"Easy!" Katie spat. "You don't hang out with me at all anymore."

"Katie, that's not tru-"

"It is true and you know it!" Katie cut him off, balling her hands into fists. Her eyes were starting to turn red and tears spilled down her cheeks. Kendall moved to wipe them away, but Katie pushed him away from her. "Listen to me!" She shrieked. "Back when we were in Minnesota we hung out all the time, even when the other guys were around. You still made some time for me." She angrily wiped off her cheeks. "But here, you don't care about me, all you care about is working on your music and hanging out with your friends. You _only _hang out with the guys, the Jacksons, Jo, Camille, Stephanie, and even Dak and WayneWayne, who aren't even really your friends." Kendall scratched the side of his neck as he waited for her to finish. "The only people that I ever hang out with around here is Lizzie, when she's not too busy at her stupid dance academy, and then Rhu, when she's not too busy doing whatever with her, Jo, Camille, and Stephanie aren't really my friends either, and Riley, Patrick, Noah, and Sydney are all who I see nowadays when they're not with you guys or working on their own music."

She shook her head. "Whom, I'm not sure if you noticed; I haven't been hanging around lately, which is partially your fault as well."

"How is that _my_ fault?" Kendall asked, glaring back at her almost as hard as she was to him.

"Because you were stupid enough to drink that night!" Katie replied.

"I can't believe this," Kendall grabbed onto the ends of his hair. "You're _still_ mad at me for that?"

"Yes, I am!" Katie shot back. "Because any smart person would have known that the punch being spiked was a really good possibility and would have just stuck to drinking soda!" She felt a sense of smugness surge through her body when she saw the flash of annoyance across Kendall's face, letting her know that he knew she was right. "And because _you_ scared our friends, they're acting like everything is ok when they still flinch like crazy around you all, but I think you've been a bit busy to notice that too. I'm tired of being in the middle of all of your music drama and only being able to help you when you need a scheme done to help you get out of it!" She shook her head.

"Katie," Kendall rubbed a hand over his mouth and took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down. _Keep calm, Kendall. The worst thing that you could do here is say the wrong thing and make things worse. _"You don't understand-"

"No, Kendall, you _don't _understand!" Katie angrily shoved her hair out of her face. "You don't understand that, essentially, I'm all alone here! Mom is always so busy being your 'Momager' that she doesn't even have much time for me anymore. Being in LA sucks!" She was crying really hard at this point, practically on the verge of sobbing. Kendall wanted to comfort her, to wrap his arms around her to make her see that everything would be ok, but he knew that it would just make things worse. "But what sucks the most is when you ask one of your best friends out on a date and you get turned down!"

Kendall's mouth dropped open.

"Yeah," Katie nodded once. "I asked Patrick out on a date and he turned me down. And because you guys aren't really friends with Dak, Lizzie isn't around a lot, and now I don't have anyone to talk to!" She grabbed a pillow and threw it at Kendall, hitting him with such force in the chest that he stumbled back a few steps, fumbling to grab it out of the air. "AND IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT!"

"Katie!" Kendall tried to jump forward and grab onto her arm but she spun on her heel and ran into her room, slamming the door behind her and crying loudly. "Katie!" He grabbed the doorknob and tried to open the door, but found that it was lock. "Katie, open the door!"

Kendall ran his hands through his hair as Katie continued to sob. He rested his forehead against the door, closing his eyes. "Katie, I'm sorry." He murmured.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **Eh, this chapter didn't really come out the way I wanted it , what did you guys think? I hope you liked it! Time-frame might have been a bit weird in this chapter. Basically when Ronan left his apartment was when Kacy was getting ready and then leaving, I just couldn't put the scenes together right. Also, I know I said that Carphanie was going to be in this chapter, but it didn't fit with what I had, so it's in the next one. For those wondering, Natalie appears in the next chapter as well.

Cheers,

-Riles


	16. Cover Girl

**.:Chapter Sixteen – Cover Girl:.**

**A/N: This also isn't my best chapter. In my head it went way better than this, but it came out this way. I hope you guys like it anyway, I'm trying to put some of the things you wanted to see in this and the next few chapters, since it's kind of hard to keep all my characters straight for this story when I have so many arcs for so many characters going on at once, plus I wanted to do one Katie centered chapter. I don't know if you saw my twitlonger about it, but it explains it all.  
><strong>

* * *

><p>"You're going to have to talk to me eventually, Kates." Patrick said as he jumped off-stage and walked over to Katie, following her as she pushed her way through the audience to get back to her table with their friends. The DarkElements had just finished their benefit concert and things were starting to calm down. As his siblings had gone back to their dressing room to pack up, Patrick immediately sought out Katie to try and talk to her, noticing that she had been avoiding from on-stage all night.<p>

"No," Katie replied sharply as she continued to walk away from him. "If you keep following me, I'm going to have to punch you eventually." Trying to catch him off guard, she suddenly turned around and aimed a punch at his chest.

Patrick merely lifted his right hand and caught her fist in his and gave a smirk when she glared at him, trying to pull her hand back. "Sorry, you're just a little too predictable sometimes." He said when he noticed her annoyed look and then frowned, turning serious. "But I'm glad that I have your attention."

"I _don't_ want to talk to you," Katie said sharply.

"Then listen to me," Patrick said smoothly. He raised a hand up and smoothed his already straight spikes. "I know that you're really mad at me, for, I guess, turning you down when you asked me out."

Katie closed her eyes and turned her head away as she thought about it. It was so humiliating.

_Katie stood there, waiting for Patrick's response. He looked at her in shock, repeatedly opening and closing his mouth in shock, trying to find some words to say. Katie continued t to twist her foot into the ground, her heart starting to thud against her chest. Her armpits flooded with sweat and she felt like she was going to be sick._

_She beat Patrick to being able to speak. "It's alright if you don't want to," she said, crossing her arms over her chest. "It's not like I'm going to cry about it or anything."_

"_Katie," Patrick waved a hand in front of her face. "I didn't say that I didn't want to go with you." She looked hopefully for a second. His cheek twitched and he looked away for a moment. "It's just…I don't know…."_

"_Its fine," Katie took a step back. She could feel tears coming to her eyes. "I don't even know why I thought that you would want to go out with me."_

"_Katie, you're pretty, I don't see why you would think that I __wouldn't__-"_

"_But you're telling me 'no' right?" Katie demanded._

"_Not exactly," Patrick gritted his teeth. "You don't understand; it's just that I don't-"He let out a frustrated sigh and tilted his head back so he was looking at the ceiling before rubbing his face. "I just need some time to-"He watched in shock as Katie closed her eyes and pushed by him, running out of the PalmWoods Pool. "Katie, wait!"_

"But in my defense, you didn't let me give you a chance to explain why I couldn't give you an answer at that time." Patrick continued as he slowly let go of her hand, noting that she wasn't going to run away from him again.

"So go ahead," Katie mumbled. "I don't know why I need to hear you anyway; you're the kind of guy that always has lots of girls flocking after him. You're freaking famous for god's sake, why would you want to go out with me?"

Patrick ignored the dig. "The reason that I didn't give you an answer at the time is because I was afraid of the future and what could potentially happen in our relationship or whatever if I got mad at you for whatever reason." He tightened his hands into fists. "Most people wouldn't know this, but when I get mad, I can get pretty mad. Not like an atom bomb like Riles, but I can. And I didn't want to potentially hurt you if I ever did get mad." Katie gave him a confused look. "Like hit you, mad. That's the last thing I want."

Katie stayed silent as she looked away, feeling a little bit like a jerk. _It makes sense, that he would be afraid. But I know that he would never hurt me like that. _She risked a peek at him and saw that he looked just as nervous as she did. _I guess he just didn't know it._

Patrick placed his hands on her shoulders. "I want to be nothing like Robert was, and that's why I try so hard to make sure that things don't go that way. Which is why I'm always so hesitant about potentially dating, which, in retrospect, is also why I haven't really dated before."

"You haven't?" Katie's eyes widened.

"Well don't look _so_ surprised." Patrick said, offended.

"It's like I said," Katie shrugged. "You're famous."

"And _you're_ fickle," Patrick retorted dryly. He pushed some of her hair out of her face and gave his famous lopsided smile. "So do you forgive me?" Katie pretended to still be annoyed, although Patrick could see a smile worming its way onto the face. "I have no shame," he added, dropping down to his knees. "I'll beg you to be my friend again if that'll work."

"Get up," Katie grabbed onto the collar of his shirt and hauled him back to his feet.

"So," Patrick put his hands into his pockets and leaned towards her. "On that note, Katie, do you want to go out with me?"

Katie pushed his face away even though she had the biggest smile on her face. "I'll think about it, goofball." She replied and laughed as he gave her a hug.

"Oooh, what did I miss?" Lizzie asked as she appeared at their side, wedging her way between the two of them. "Did you guys finally make up?"

"Way to ruin a moment, Lizz," Patrick said and lightly cuffed the back of her head. "I have to get my stuff from the dressing room, but I'll be back in a minute." He said to the two girls before pushing his way through the crowd to get to the back of the building.

"Excuse me," a tall, very pretty blonde blocked his way. She grinned, showing all of her teeth and flipped her hair behind her shoulder. "I'm Natalie Jamison, I don't know if James told you who I was." Her smiled widened as she held out her hand. "I'm his girlfriend. Do you know where he is?" She dropped her arm before Patrick could grab it and looked around. "I've been looking for him all night; he knows I'm supposed to be here."

"Last I saw him he was-"Patrick let out a guttural cry as his arm was tugged and before he knew it, he was pulled off of his feet and forcibly thrown over someone's shoulder. "James," Patrick looked down and recognized his friend's brunette hair as he was commandeered towards the dressing rooms. "What are you doing?"

"Hiding from my ex-girlfriend," James replied as he continued to run. "It's a _long _story." He entered the DarkElements' dressing room and dropped Patrick onto the empty couch before closing the door behind him. "Great show, guys." He greeted Riley, Rhuben, Noah, and Sydney as they finished gathering their things. "Really loved it."

"Thanks," Sydney replied as he put his back over his shoulders.

"James, what are you doing?" Noah asked as they all slowly moved towards the door, looking over as Patrick pulled himself into a sitting position. Noah chest-passed Patrick his bag, sending him onto his back again.

"Hiding," James replied as he pressed his ear to the door, listening. "There's something that I don't want to see out there."

"Ex?" Rhuben guessed. "It'll be the only reason as to why you're hiding like a little girl like that." She smiled sweetly as James turned to her and did his famous, challenging one-eyebrow raise. She turned serious. "If you don't want to see her, Handsome, then just tell her that."

"You obviously haven't met her then," James flipped his hair out of his face. "'Cause she doesn't take 'no' for an answer."

"Then why'd you go out with her?" Sydney asked. He then shook his head as he held his up hands. "Never mind, I don't think I even want to know what goes through a teenager's head."

"You're probably right about that one," Noah replied as he walked over to Patrick and grabbed his offered hand, helping him to his feet. He looked his twin up and down and then slowly started to smile. "Something you'd like to share?"

"Later," Patrick replied. He was looking at Noah, but he knew that the others understood he was going to tell them as well.

"Well if you want to continue to hide from her for a minute," Riley moved her hair behind her ear as she stepped up to James. "I just need to talk to you for a second."

"Sure, no problem." James replied with a cheerful smile.

"We'll meet you out there," Sydney said and led his siblings out of the room.

"I swear it'll only take a minute." Riley said quickly as soon as the door closed. "I don't want to keep anyone waiting." She gave a nervous smile and took a deep breath. "I might as well just say it to get it out of the way," Riley said and crossed her arms over her chest. "I like you, James." She looked at her feet for a moment before looking up at him again. "And I was wondering if you wanted to go out on a date, sometime."

James let out a breath and used both hands to push his hair off of his forehead. He then looked down at her. "It's not that I don't think that we'd be good together," he started and Riley looked down at her feet again, this time holding onto her arms. "I just don't think of you in the same way?" He said it sort of like a question and cleared his throat. "And to be completely honest, with that you've been through before, I don't know if I'm the right person to help you in the way that you need when you need it."

"It's alright," Riley lifted her head and looked at him through the hair that fell over her face. "I understand."

"But that doesn't mean that we aren't friends anymore right?" James asked hopefully. "I mean, you and I both know that our band would _suck_ without you guys helping us."

Riley laughed lightly, pulling her hair from her face. "Trust me, I've known that since I've known _you_," she teased in reply and then shrugged. "You're acting like I haven't been rejected before."

"Well," James paused for a moment. "It's kind of hard to believe."

"Thanks for that." Riley smirked.

James laughed and moved forward, giving her a hug. He rested his chin on her head as she hugged him back. "You know that if you ever want to talk about things, even if it's about me," He gave a smile, causing Riley to laugh again. "Then I'd be glad to do so."

"Yeah, I know you'd have a field day with that one," Riley lightly pushed James away from here. "Get out of here, boofhead; go back to hiding from your ex." James' smile widened as he headed over to the door. "I do suggest that you go that way," she pointed to the right. "'Cause the last place I saw her chase you was that way," she then pointed to the left. "Besides, I'm pretty sure there's a bathroom to the right that you could duck into."

"Thanks Beautiful," James winked at her before disappearing from the doorway.

Riley's smirk wilted to a frown as she grabbed her keys from her make-up table and then grabbed her guitar case, slinging it over her shoulder and heading towards the door. As soon as she stepped into the doorway she walked into someone and felt back onto her butt on the floor.

"Sorry Riles," Kendall apologized as he bent down and grabbed onto her wrists, pulling her back to her feet with one tug. "I didn't see you there. Great show by the way, you did an amazing job."

"I'm short but that's not an excuse," she replied as she lightly rubbed her butt. She then noticed the anxious look on his face. "And thanks. Is something wrong, Hockey-Head?" She then rolled her eyes at her own stupidity. "That was dumb, of course there's something wrong with you or you wouldn't look like a complete wreck."

Kendall's head rolled to the side. "You always have to find some way to insult me in any situation don't you?"

"I'd rather refer to it as poking fun," Riley replied. "But yes."

"Well, I need your-"Kendall paused and studied her face. "Wait a minute," he took a step backwards. "What's wrong with you? You look like you want to punch something." He remarked. "Which isn't totally weird, but still."

"Nothing," Riley shook her head. "What do you need?"

"I need to borrow your guitar," Kendall said urgently, looking at the guitar case behind her. "And I know that you would rather not lend it out to someone," he added when he noticed her hands tighten on the strap across her chest. "But I seriously need it so I can-"He stopped as Riley took off her guitar and wordlessly shoved it into his hands. He looked at her curiously. "Y-you're actually going to let me use it?"

"Looks like it," She replied and stepped around him, closing the door to the dressing room behind her. Kendall fell into step beside her and looked down at her with worry. "I can feel your eyes burning holes in my head, Eyebrows, what is it?"

"Are you sure that you're ok?" He asked, squinting his eyes at her as they continued back towards the front of the building where their friends were waiting for them. He grabbed onto her shoulder, loosening his grip when Riley's shoulders moved up towards her ears as she turned to face him. "You know you can talk to me if you're ever having any problems right?" He searched her face. "You do trust me, right?"

"About as far as I could throw you." Riley replied with a smirk. "Now, hurt that," she pointed to her guitar. "And I'll use the strings to strangle you." She turned and headed out into the audience to sit with their friends as Kendall hurried up onstage and pulled Riley's guitar out of the case.

"Sorry for coming up here last minute," he apologized to the audience as they moved to sit back down in their seats. "After recent events I knew that this had to be done." He cleared his throat as he sat down on the stool, flipping a guitar pick around his fingers. "I got into a fight with someone yesterday and they said that I don't really care about them anymore because we haven't hung out as much." He looked over at Katie who looked down at her feet. "And in a way, she was right." He continued, causing her to look up. "I had been too busy with my friends' problems and trying to make sure that things went smoothly with our music that I wasn't paying attention to what was going on in her life and what her problems were and I feel really bad about that."

Kendall cleared his throat and kept going. "She told me that she had been starting to feel insecure about our move out here and about how she is around her best friends and it helped me realize that the song I had been working on recently is for her. I finished it last night and I'm here to play it for her and everyone here tonight with the help of my friends," He waited as James, Logan, and Carlos got up on stage, dragging stools and microphones over as well. "So, this song, which I've named _Cover Girl, _is to the most important girl in my life," he then gave a wide smile. "Besides my mom," Kacy smiled and blew a kiss. "My baby sister, Katie Knight."

Kendall counted out a quick beat before starting to play the guitar, sliding the guitar pick over the strings gracefully. "I don't know why you always get so insecure, I wish you could see what I see when you're looking in the mirror. And why won't you believe me when I say, that to me you get more beautiful, everyday."

"When you're looking at the magazines," James started singing. "And thinking that you'll never measure up. You're wrong."

"Cause you're my cover, cover girl, I think you're a superstar, yeah you are, why don't you know? Yeah, you're so pretty that it hurts. It's what's underneath your skin, the beauty that shines within. You're the only one that rocks my world, my cover girl. Oh, my cover girl." The four of them sang together, Kendall's voice in the forefront as the others fell into perfect harmony behind him.

"You walk in rain boots on a perfect summer day," Logan placed his hands on his microphone, adjusting it to his mouth as he smiled. "Somehow you always see the dark side, when everything's  
>okay. And you wear baggy clothes that camouflage your shape, whoa, but you know that I love you, just the way you're made."<p>

"When you're looking at the magazines and thinking that you're just not good enough." James flipped his hair out of his face as he continued to sing, lightly swaying back and forth in time with the audience. "You're so wrong, baby."

"Cause you're my cover, cover girl, I think you're a superstar, yeah you are, why don't you know? Yeah, you're so pretty that it hurts. It's what's underneath your skin, the beauty that shines within. You're the only one that rocks my world, my cover girl."

"Got a heart of gold, a perfect original." Carlos closed his eyes as he sang.

"Wish you would stop being so hard on yourself for once." James jumped in next, shaking Carlos' shoulder.

"And when I see that face, I'd try a thousand ways."

"I would do anything to make you smile."

"Cause you're my cover, cover girl, I think you're a superstar, yeah you are, why don't you know? Yeah, you're so pretty that it hurts. It's what's underneath your skin, the beauty that shines within. You're the only one that rocks my world, my cover girl. Oh, my cover girl. Oh, my cover girl."

Logan's, James's, and Carlos's voices fell away and Kendall took over the last two lines of the song. "Whoa oh, my cover girl, Whoa oh, my cover girl." He smiled at his sister and pointed at her as the audience started to clap and cheer.

Katie smiled and got down from her chair and hurried up to the stage as Kendall got up from the stool and moved the guitar aside. He bent down as Katie wrapped her arms around his neck, giving him a big hug and a kiss on the cheek.

"You're the best Big Brother ever." She whispered into his ear.

"And you're the best Baby Sister ever." He whispered back.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **Sorry you didn't see DE perform in this chapter, but you'll see them perform 'll also see everyone in the next chapter as well. (I know there's a noticeable lack of Noah, but he has a big part of the story as well, it just hasn't gotten there yet). This chapter came out shorter than I intended, but I hope you guys liked it anyway. I've had a lot of drama in it lately and not a lot of friendship, so there's more friendship as the story goes on. But that doesn't mean that the drama is going away completely.

Cheers,

-Riles


	17. Teenage Kicks

**.:Chapter Seventeen – Teenage Kicks:.**

* * *

><p>"Camille, when are you going to know whether or not you got that part that you auditioned for?" Jo asked as she and Camille slowly walked through the PalmWoods lobby, taking their time as class had just let out for the day. She waved to Kendall, Logan, Carlos, and James as they passed by them, going to meet up with Kelly at Rocque Records. Stephanie hadn't been in class that day. Jo watched as Camille's smile slid from her face and her cheeks bloomed with color before paling quickly. "What?" She asked her best friend. "What's wrong?"<p>

"Nothing," Camille shook her head and looked away. "Uh," she pushed her hair behind her ear. "I don't know when I'm going to hear back from them. It's been, what two weeks now, it's really weird, right?" She added as Jo quietly nodded. "But I've been keeping myself busy with other auditions, homework-"

"Making out with Logan." Jo teased, causing Camille to let out a little shriek and push her on the arm, although the two girls were laughing. "I'm just kidding, 'Mille, I'm glad that you two are finally together."

"Thanks," Camille sighed, although she didn't sound totally happy.

Jo, the matchmaker, quickly picked up on it. "Uh-oh, is there trouble in paradise? You two have been together for, like, two weeks now; I don't see what the problem could be." She shrugged.

"It's a couple of things," Camille replied slowly. "I know that I shouldn't be jealous of this, but I'm kind of jealous of the friendship that he has with Riley and Rhuben. 'Cause he can talk to them about anything, and when we're together, it seems hard to talk to him."

"Well, it's understandable," Jo said sympathetically. "You can't really compete with history on this one."

"Yeah, I know," Camille tilted her head to the side as she looked away. "I just wish he was that close to me you know, but I know it'll take a while for us to get there."

"Mhm," Jo nodded. "So what's the other problem?"

"The _other _problem is that Wally has been acting pretty strange lately," Camille lowered her voice so she could confide in her friend. When it came to relationships, it was usually best to go to Jo as she always had some sort of vast knowledge about them and she was always good for advice for them, even if she hadn't experienced a certain problem herself. "Usually I could talk to him about Logan all I wanted and he wouldn't mind, but lately, he's been really short with me and changing the subject about a date, even if he asked first. And even though he was the one that numerous times suggested that I just ask _Logan_ out, he's now wondering why I'm even dating him." She crossed her arms over his chest. "According to Wally, he doesn't even see anything that we have in common."

Jo held her hand over her mouth for a moment as she thought about it. It was really obvious, what was going on, but she wasn't sure if she wanted to burst Camille's bubble like this. She had no other way to say it, so she might as well just get on with it.

"What?" Camille asked anxiously. She grabbed onto Jo's shoulders and started to shake her back and forth. "What is it woman, tell me what's going on?" She then leaned forward and started to speak in a Russian accent. "We have ways of making you talk."

"You know, your acting skills are seriously getting better, I actually _believed_ you that time," Jo said, looking impressed. "It was really that good."

"Don't change the subject." Camille warned, shaking her head back and forth. "Tell me Jo."

Jo took a deep breath. "Have you ever thought that WayneWayne could be…jealous?" She asked and then continued when Camille scoffed. "It makes sense. He's acting the same way that Logan is about Dak, and we all know that, even though he won't admit it, he's jealous of him." She shrugged and then looked suspicious. "Which reminds me that I have to ask Rhu how things are going with him. Last I checked they aren't, like an official couple thing."

"'Cause of potentially long distance?" Camille guessed. "You know, with his Broadway stuff and everything."

"That's my thought, but she hasn't said," Jo agreed, shaking her head. She then leaned forward and slapped Camille on the arm. "Don't change the subject; it might also be the fact that you're starting to become better friends with them than him. And you've kept in touch with WayneWayne for years after the show ended." She paused. "Think of it this way, as much as we wouldn't like to say it out loud, Dak and WayneWayne, and even Lizzie, isn't really our friends. They're the _Jacksons' _friends, the Jacksons seem to be the glue that holds both of our groups together, or Dak and WayneWayne probably wouldn't even be civil to Kendall and Logan." She placed a hand on her chest. "Even I'll admit that I haven't really gotten to know either of them, or even have taken the first step to try if they're not hanging around." She placed her hands on Camille's shoulders. "You really need to ask WayneWayne what's going on, so you and Logan can have a better relationship without any weirdness to it."

"Yeah, I guess you're right." Camille agreed with a nod and then put her arms around Jo, wrapping her in a tight hug. "I don't know what I would do without you, Jo." She said truthfully.

"Probably be forever alone." Jo laughed and hugged her back before pulling her purse up her shoulder. "I have to get going; I'm helping Dad with some stuff today." She gave Camille another hug. "I'll see you later, 'Mille."

"Later, Jo." Camille smiled and walked off.

Jo smiled and gave a finger-wave before turning and heading towards the elevators. _How is it that I can give so much good advice, but I can't find a boyfriend of my own? _She shook her head at the irony. As she passed by the supply closet, the door flung open and someone grabbed her arm, dragging her inside.

"Ow!" Jo gasped as the force of the pull caused her to crash into the shelves of the cleaning and maintenance items. She pushed a handful of her blonde hair out of her face and gasped, pressing herself even further against the shelves. "Jett."

"Hey, Babe." Jett move forward and placed his hands on either side of her head, on the shelf behind her. "I missed you. Sorry I wasn't in class today, I have some press stuff to deal with," he used his left hand to lightly run it down her cheek, causing her to shiver. Jett's smile widened. "I knew that you would miss me, but not enough to tremble." He chuckled.

"Jett, stop." Jo turned her head away and then let out a cry of pain as he grabbed onto her chin and forced her to look back at him.

"Please, you know you want this." Jett laughed before kissing her hard, punishing her lips with his. He ran his hands through her hair, painfully pulling at the strands, causing her to cry out in pain. Jett laughed as he pulled back and kissed her forehead. "I love it when you do that." He whispered.

"Please, let me go." Jo pushed against his chest. "I sweat I won't tell anyone, just please-"

"Oh come on, we're just having a little bit of fun before we start working on the show together," Jett pinned her against the back shelves, causing the nozzle of a bottle to painfully push into her back. He put his mouth by her ear. "We have to work on that chemistry." He then started to kiss her neck.

Jo squeezed her eyes shut and forced her mind to drift off as Jett continued to forcibly kiss her. Just like always, her skin crawled as his hands moved around her body, as if he owned her. But it was nothing loving, every place he touched he would grab her so hard that she was sure that she would find bruises in the shape of his hands all over her body. By now she knew how to hide it and with that feeling of shame and disgust, she understood why the Jacksons were constantly hiding their bruises and scars with makeup.

Her brain barely recognized it when he was done; he gave her a gentle kiss on the lips, so soft it was as if he had never touched her at all, gave her a charming smile, and left her alone in the supply closet to compose herself. Jo held her breath for a few moments before she reached up and smoothed down her hair, straightening her clothes. With a shaking hand, she reached forward and opened the door to the supply closet and slowly poked her head out.

The coast was clear.

She slowly slid out of the closet and closed the door behind her.

Looking around once more to be sure that no one was coming; Jo slid down to the floor, buried her face in her hands, and started to cry.

* * *

><p>Gustavo tiredly closed his laptop and rubbed his face with his hands. Looking at his watch, he noted that he had some time before the boys got to the studio and grabbed his phone, turning around in his chair so he would have a little bit of privacy as he dialed his home number.<p>

"Hello?" A cheerful voice replied.

"Hey Mom," Gustavo greeted after a second. He waited as he could hear his mother take in a sharp breath of air. He knew that she was surprised that he was calling. After the spectacle that he made when he found out that his father had cancer…he felt ashamed. Screaming, throwing things, and all in public as well. He was surprised that Griffin hadn't come down to his office and berated him for it. He pushed the thought out of his head as he turned back to the phone. "I know, it's weird that I'm calling….I was just wondering how dad's doing."

"Your father is doing fine." Mrs. Rocque replied stiffly.

Gustavo paused, hoping that she was going to say something more, but when there continued to be a prolonged silence, he knew that he was going to have to move things along. "Has he started his chemo yet?"

"He's not due to start until next week," Mrs. Rocque said. "Not until the doctors check to see how far it has spread. Then they'll decide which way to go about it." There was another pause. "Is there a reason that you called, Gustavo?"

_I want to talk to my mom and dad; I want to fix things before it's too late. Is that too much to ask? _Gustavo bit back on the sarcastic reply and waited for a few moments to be sure that he was calm before he took a breath to speak again. "If you need it…I wanted to help pay for Dad's medical bills." Gustavo replied quickly. "And maybe I could come down and visit him-"

"We don't need any of your help, thank you." Mrs. Rocque said and hung up the phone.

Gustavo slowly pulled his phone from his ear, staring at it for a few moments before standing up and heaving it across the room. "Screw you, mom." He muttered under his breath as he stared at the broken pieces of his phone.

"Uh, Gustavo," Kelly's voice came from behind him as she gently knocked on his office door. "Is this a bad time?"

Gustavo turned around in his chair and saw Kendall, Logan, Carlos, James, and Kelly all standing in the doorway of his office, looking at him warily. Gustavo merely waved a hand, allowing them to come into the office and to sit down in the chairs that had been set up across from it, like it had been when they were first talking about the CD. Now they were checking in on their progress, hoping that everything was going to be done on time. Plus, it made him feel like he was actually helping them do something on the CD, even though it seemed like all he was good for was screaming and pushing them past their limits.

"Alright," Gustavo grabbed a folder that was sitting on his desk and took out the contents, spreading it out in front of him. "A couple of things. We're going to be releasing Music Sounds Better With U as a single soon, to get your guys' music back out there as you finish working on your CD, so we can have that done in time."

"Just out of curiosity," Logan started slowly, as if treading on tip-toes around the older man. He didn't want to set him off, just in case. "Why'd you chose that song as opposed to _No Idea, _or _Show Me, All Over Again, _or even," he motioned to Kendall. "_Cover Girl_. We thought liked all of them."

"Those songs are all amazing," Kelly said before Gustavo could open his mouth. "You're really showing your guys' talent by writing and working on such amazing songs that are written _for _you." She paused for a moment, thinking about it. "But Gustavo and I both agreed that _Music Sounds Better With U _was the better song with the better message to put out as your first single."

Gustavo merely nodded in reply.

"Alright," Kendall scratched the back of his head. "But we would like to have our input on things like this in the future," he clasped his hands together and dropped them into his lap. "Especially since we're trying to make this CD for our fans, we need to come to a unanimous decision about these sorts of things."

James, Logan, and Carlos all held their breaths, looking panic stricken. Kendall always had a habit of talking back to Gustavo and it usually made things worse. They had been pushed harder in workouts and stuck at the studio for hours on end on two separate occasions that he had talked back. But he had a point on this one. They just weren't sure how Gustavo was going to react.

"You're right," Gustavo said after a moment, noticing that even Kelly's mouth had dropped open in surprise. "This is your guys' CD just as much as mine, so I'm going to let you guys have more of a creative role in it than you already have," He cracked his knuckles. "Which brings me to my next point, we need to have a place that your fans can go and talk to each other, besides ScuttleButter and MyFace. So the marketing team and I have come up with this: Club Rush."

"Club Rush?" James repeated, looking skeptical.

"It's an online 'club' where the fans can buy memberships to join." Kelly explained. "On the site, they would be able to talk to each other, listen to music, join campaigns, and enter contests to win exclusive things of and about you guys. Those on the website would even be able to get VIP tickets and regular tickets as a pre-sale before the rest of the fan base will be able to."

"That sounds _really_ cool, actually." Carlos said with an excited grin slowly sliding up his face. He then looked thoughtful. "Do the DarkElements have one too?"

"No," Kelly shook her head and motioned between herself and Gustavo. "We have extensively talked to Ronan and the Jacksons about the idea of them making a site like it as well, so we could affiliate with them-"

Logan spoke up so he could clear the confused expression off of James's face. "Meaning that we would be their brother-site in a way. Ads for our site would play on theirs and vice-versa. If we announce a contest, it would also be put somewhere on theirs, that way, the fans can see that while we do have a 'rivalry' with them, we're also helping each other in the music industry and that our fans can like both genres of music."

"Exactly." Kelly agreed.

"But Ronan didn't think that it was a good idea," Gustavo continued. "I'm not saying that it was a dumb move," he paused. "Which it was," he smiled a little as the boys laughed. "But it's his decision, what they want to do with their band, and he doesn't want to do it. But now it's something that you guys have of your own."

"But with the site, you guys are going to be even more interactive with your fans as you are now," Kelly added. "Which is how you have creative control on what the site will look like as well as the prices for the memberships, what people can do on it, what contests will be on it, what kind of prizes they can win, anything." She smiled so all of her teeth showed. "It's all up to you guys."

"AWESOME!" Carlos shouted, punching both fists into the air. "This is going to be amazing!" His smile stayed on his face as he slowly calmed down.

"What is it?" Kelly asked, noticing their lack of energy. "You guys seem really down."

"Well," James licked his lips. "We were wondering if something was bothering you, Gustavo." James said as he ran a hand over his mouth. Gustavo's eyebrows rose. "I mean, you haven't yelled at us _at all _today, even when Kendall sort of challenged you to do it." He smiled at his friend before turning back to Gustavo. "And you don't seem…I don't know, like you're acting normally."

"I'm fine," Gustavo said. He shifted in his seat before grabbing his laptop and opening it. "Here's your sound-file to your next song." He opened the music file and allowed it to come blasting through the speakers. It was very high-energy, futuristic, had a good 'jumping-beat' to it, something that they were going to be dancing very hard to; Rhuben was going to have her work cut out for her when it came to the choreography, but they knew she would come up with something amazing like she usually did.

"That sounds awesome!" Logan smiled, his eyes lighting up. "I can't wait to get started on it.

"Some of our writers already have a tiny part of the song written for it," Gustavo said as he picked up four sheets of paper and passed them out to the boys. "Kelly and I agree that it has to be in the song, you just have to put everything else around it. But you did a good job with your other songs, so I'm sure that you guys can get it on this one."

Logan took the sheet of paper and looked at the lyrics already written at the top: _When I rock, you roll; you're losing control, and if you got that feeling, throw your hands up in the air. _And then a few spaces underneath that (so they had space to fill in the blank spots) were written: _You be Juliet, I'll be Romeo. What you waiting for you know you wanna go. Don't say goodbye cause we just said hello. Say you're gonna love me girl cause I need to know._

"This is going to be so rad," James beamed. "Thanks Gustavo."

"You're welcome," Gustavo looked over at Kendall and looked him up and down. "What's up with you? You look exhausted."

"I didn't get a lot of sleep last night," Kendall replied truthfully, yawning loudly.

"Yeah," Logan gave Kendall and annoyed look. "He was on the phone almost all night long."

"Who were you talking to?" Kelly asked, giving him an odd look. "You know that you have to get as much sleep as possible when it comes to this line of business. Or you'll get sick." She reminded him.

"I was talking to Riley," Kendall hesitated a moment, noticing James look at him oddly. "She was having some problems with her homework and called me for some help." He finished lamely, immediately knowing that while James and Carlos easily bought it, Logan didn't believe him as she usually went to him for help on her homework. "She's actually kind of bad at history, so it took a while for her to get it."

Gustavo merely grunted and looked at his watch. "Now you have the rest of the day off to go write the song or whatever." He shooed them away and they got up from their seats and left the room. Kelly closed the door behind him, holding her notepad against her chest.

"Gustavo, what's really going on?" Kelly asked as she turned to face her partner.

"Nothing," Gustavo shook his head as he leaned back in his seat. "And the less people know about my personal life, the better."

* * *

><p>"Hey Steph," Mr. King pushed open the door to her daughter's bedroom. "Someone's here to see you, honey."<p>

Stephanie looked up from her laptop, pulling her large Jack Skellington style headphones off of her ears as he disappeared from view. Her expression didn't change when Carlos appeared in the doorway. He gave her a sheepish smile and she didn't say anything as she pushed her computer aside.

"Before you say anything," Carlos started as he closed the door behind him. "I'm sooooo sorry about pushing you down at Dak's party."

"So you _finally _remembered that?" Stephanie said as she crossed her arms over her chest. "It took you long enough."

"I didn't remember a lot of things," Carlos said quietly. "All I remembered was the Jacksons being mad at me, and I tried to fix that the best I could, even though I still don't' believe that they have finally forgiven us for that. And I knew that you were mad at me for something because you've been avoiding me for days."

"Why didn't you come to talk to me sooner?" Stephanie couldn't keep the pout from coming onto her face. "I'm really only mad that you took so long to realize that-"She broke off, shaking her head. Carlos looked at her curiously and a little scared. "Forget it, it doesn't really matter anyway."

"Why?" Carlos walked towards her. "Why doesn't it matter?"

Stephanie stayed silent for a few more moments, refusing to look at him. She slowly looked around her room. Everything that had in there, the Nightmare Before Christmas, Mario, Zelda, Buzz Lightyear, and Disney memorabilia that had given her so much comfort before was now making her feel even more depressed. Carlos waited for Stephanie to say something, his heart rate increasing rapidly. He had an idea what she was going to say, but he didn't want to hear it.

"Please don't' break up with me, Steph." He whispered.

"I just think," Stephanie turned back to him, glad that he was the one that had brought it up. She pulled her long dark brown hair behind her back, completely exposing her face. Carlos could see how sad she looked, never having noticed it before. "I think it's better for us and for your fan base if we do break up. You have to admit that things aren't going well for us lately. And your fans are getting even worse than before." She took a deep, shaky breath. "I think we should end things where they are now, before it gets worse."

"Steph, you don't mean that." Carlos said gently.

Stephanie scoffed and went over to her computer. She pulled open her ScuttleButter and went to her mentions before turning her computer around so Carlos could see. "Carlos, even though we haven't actually admitted to our fans that we're going out yet, people know. And I've been getting nothing but hate for it." She clenched her hands into fists. "I try not to let them get to me, but when I see these, I can't help it."

Carlos moved forward to look at the ScuttButts.

**THERE I SAID IT. Please hate Stephanie.**

**I hate Stephanie**

**I hate Stephanie. I hope she gets hit by a bus**

**Oh and I hate Stephanie she's really bitchy**

**How can anyone hate Stephanie gd i love that dirty hoe**

**If you hate Stephanie King folllow this hate account for her**

**I already hated Stephanie King but after what I've seen I hate her 100000x more. I don't even care if I get hate. I honestly don't. There is NOTHING she, Carlos, or anyone else could do to make me like her.**

Ihateyou** ugly ¬¬'' **IHATE

You're** a bitch **Ihateyou**!**

**You're a fucking whore that just needs to die.**

**Does anyone have so rope so I can kill Stephanie?**

And those were just the nice ones; the worst ones had even worse language than any of them had ever seen before. It would have made even the toughest guy on the planet burst into tears if he saw it. Carlos sighed as he closed the laptop and turned to Stephanie, grabbing onto his hands. "You know that that's not how _I _or our friends feel about you." He whispered to her. He noticed that she looked like she was about to cry, and he placed his hands on her cheeks. "You're an _amazing _person that doesn't deserve this."

"Yeah, well, the Jacksons were abused for, like, ever and they didn't deserve that." Stephanie pulled away from Carlos and curled up on her bed, lying on her side. She squeezed her eyes shut as Carlos got on the bed behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist. She knew her father would have a heart attack if he caught them together like this, but at that moment, she didn't care.

She needed Carlos to comfort her; they needed to figure things out.

"I don't know how I can be with you, if I'll continue to get messages like this." She said, her defenses completely falling down.

"They're just jealous," Carlos whispered to her. "They're jealous of the love that we have for each other, they're jealous of our relationship, and they're jealous that they can't have me." He hugged her tightly to his chest. "So they're releasing their jealousy against _you _so they don't anger me." He tried a different way. "A true rusher would understand that there was a slim chance that I would date a fan in the first place, and that they should be happy for me now."

He forced Stephanie to turn around and felt his heart breaking when he saw his girlfriend crying silently. He wiped her tears away. "Remember when we announced that we were officially going out together to our friends?" He laughed a little. "Do you remember that?"

Stephanie gave a weak smile. "Yeah, I remember. I think that they were happier for us than we were."

"Because they know what we have together and that we have something for them to look up to," Carlos reminded her and then grinned cheekily, trying to get her to smile. "We're like, a real life version of Corey and Topanga."

"You're about as crazy as Corey, so that makes sense." Stephanie finally managed to smile a little, moving her hair from her face as she reached out and stroked Carlos' cheek. "It just hurts, you know? I didn't think that I would come out to LA to fall in love; I thought I was going to become a famous cinematographer. But this works too."

"Steph, the last thing that I want to do is break up." Carlos murmured, nuzzling his nose against hers. "I don't want you to be hurt anymore, but I don't want you to be hurt because of me. I don't know what we can do to get over this at the time, but we can get through it together and with the help of our friends."

Stephanie nodded silently, wiping at her eyes. "I know."

Carlos wrapped his arms around her and gave her a kiss on the forehead before kissing her on the lips. "Mmm," he smiled as he tasted her vanilla flavored lip gloss. "You got those red velvet lips sweet like Betty Crocker."

Stephanie finally burst out laughing, moving her hands over her face as Carlos smiled, still watching her. When she finally calmed down, she turned back to him. "How do you come up with that stuff?" She asked, shaking her head. "You're crazy, you know that?"

"Crazy about you, maybe." Carlos replied. He then hesitated. "Yeah, and a little bit crazy in general." He kissed her again and held her in his arms as she rested her head against his chest. Before he knew it, the two of them had fallen in a light sleep.

Carlos woke up again at the sound of Mr. King's bedroom door closing and he looked at his watch, his eyes widening. Carlos gently pushed Stephanie off of his chest and he got up, running a hand over his face. On a whim, he grabbed his phone and logged into his ScuttleButter to make a ScuttButt.

**BigTimeCarlos: No hate, just love.**

He quickly posted the ScuttButt before turning off his phone and sliding out of Stephanie's bed. He didn't realize how late it had gotten and knew that he had to get back to the apartment soon or Mama Knight would be all over him for missing curfew. He pulled on his shoes and leaned over, giving Stephanie a quick kiss on the cheek before pulling her blankets up over her body. He then quietly left her room.

Before leaving the apartment, he stopped for a moment, looking around. It was big enough so that she and her father could live there comfortably, but wondered if she missed her mother. Out of all of his friends, it seemed like he, Logan, and Stephanie were the only ones with a (somewhat) normal home life; a mother and a father who worked and loved their children unconditionally. But it still had to be pretty lonely sometimes. They may have agreed to continue to date and to try and make things better with their relationship, leaving their communication open and telling each other when something was wrong, but he still felt a bit empty.

It was hard to explain.

Carlos turned to leave, but a flash of light against something quickly caught his eye. He turned back around and noticed a wine bottle and an empty glass sitting on the coffee table.

"Mr. King must have had some wine with his dinner tonight; I forgot he was even here." Carlos muttered to himself as he walked over and grabbed the two objects to clean them up. As soon as his hand firmly grasped the wine bottle, he turned it around to look at the label and then brought it up to his face to sniff it.

Carlos' head immediately recoiled at the smell, but then he leaned forward and sniffed it again, before pouring a little bit into his glass. He spun it around his glass a few times and sniffed it, he wasn't sure why, he had seen his father do it numerous times, so he thought that that was what you were supposed to do. After staring at it for a few moments, he placed the glass to his lips and tilted his head back, letting the red liquid slide into his mouth.

His face wilted at the taste for a moment. It wasn't that bad, but it wasn't eh best thing that he had ever drank before. Carlos licked his lips a few times before he brought the glass and wine bottle over to the sink and left them on the counter.

Then he turned and left the apartment, heading back to his own.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **Ok, I caved, I had to update again. I have no idea why Dak, Lizzie, and WayneWayne continuously 'disappear' in my stories when they're supposed to be main characters. It's either because they don't actually live in the PalmWoods, they're not really friends of BTR (like I had mentioned in the chapter) or because I still don't really know how to write their personalities. IDK.

Cheers,

-Riley


	18. Girls

**.:Chapter Eighteen – Girls:.**

* * *

><p>"I still don't get it," Lizzie commented, her chin in her hands as she stared at a chemistry book in front of her. She tilted her head to the side, allowing her blonde hair to fall over her face as her features scrunched up in confusion.<p>

Noah let out a patient sigh as he rested his elbows on the table and pointed to her book with a pen. "It's a simple acid-base titration," he explained, flipping his hair out of his face. "You just take hydrochloric acid with sodium hydroxide, find out the ratio between the two of them, this one it's 1:1 and you finish the problem that way." He lifted his blue eyes and looked over at Lizzie, who continued to stare at the book.

"I still don't get it," she repeated, dropping her arms to the table, resting them on either sides of her book. "I don't get why I have to study science anyway, I go to a Dance Academy, and I should be focusing on _dancing _not on school."

"Says that person that's getting a C in chemistry." Noah commented with a teasing smile. He made a sound, twisting his mouth to the side and closed his own book. "Maybe I should have brought Syd along to help you with this." He said to himself, drumming the top of his notebook with this pen. "At least he would have made it simpler."

"Maybe," Lizzie rested her cheek on her fist as she turned her head to smile at him. "But I like being in your company better." She briefly closed her eyes as she waved her free hand. "No offense to Syd." "Of course," Noah replied with a nod and closed his eyes, blushing as he leaned forward and gave her a sweet kiss. His blush deepened as Lizzie placed a hand on the back of his neck and kissed him back.

Lizzie smiled at him before sliding out of her seat at the kitchen table and went over to the refrigerator. She, for that moment, was glad that it was only her brother that was home with her. She wouldn't be able to stand it if her parents suddenly took an interest in her life and asked Noah lots and lots of questions. She knew that he was a shy person (which was why it was so frustrating for her to tell him that she liked him at first) and it wouldn't help her parents' views on her friends if he clammed up and didn't say a thing if they tried talking to him. Lizzie quickly scanned her food selection before grabbing a bowl of watermelon that was sitting on the top shelf.

"Want some?" she asked, holding the bowl up so he could see.

"No thank you," Noah replied, ever the gentleman, as he shook his head, standing up and pushing his chair in. "I have to get down to the studio to help the guys on the new routine that Rhu came up with, and I'd rather not puke watermelon all over the hardwood floor."

"Alright," Lizzie let out a sigh as she grabbed a fork and walked back over to the table. She gently set the bowl down and looked at it before sliding into her seat as well.

"What?" Noah asked, noticing her look at the bowl funny. Lizzie opened her mouth to protest and Noah shook his head once more. "Don't try denying it." He added after a moment. Lizzie let out a breath through her nose and looked up at him, her green eyes narrowing.

"I forgot how perceptive you are," Lizzie commented with a slightly annoyed look. "I also forgot how annoying that could be.

"Annoying for you," Noah corrected her. "Entertaining for us." He reached out and laid a hand on her shoulder before blushing and removing his hand. "You have to stop thinking like that you know," he told her gently. "Everything is all in your head and it's basically you that's making things worse." He reminded her.

He looked away for a moment, wondering if he should do something else other than try and talk to her about it. He had seen it happen before, more often than he would have liked, one being someone very close to him, and he didn't want to see it happen again. "I know," Lizzie twisted her fingers together as she laid them out on the table in front of her. "I can't help it, though." She pouted a little before turning to Noah. "You haven't told anyone have you?"

"About us dating?" Noah asked. "Well, Dak knows, and I've told my siblings, and I'm sure Jo knows of course," he added and then continued when he saw the insisting look on Lizzie's face. "I know what you meant." He reassured her. "I've only told Patrick so far, only 'because I know that he would find out in, like, 0.5 seconds. But the others," he shrugged. "Not yet, not unless you want me to."

"Thanks," Lizzie replied with a small smile. "So," she drummed her fingers on the table. "What about Steph?" Noah hesitated for a moment, not sure what to say.

To anyone that knew him really well, they would know that he had a crush on her almost ever since he first saw her. But he was too shy to even admit it to himself, especially since she and Carlos started dating. He didn't want to say anything about it now, since he still had feelings for her, even though she was clearly head over heels for the helmet-clad boy. And it wouldn't be fair, considering he was now dating Lizzie.

"Never mind," Lizzie flashed another small smiled. "Forget it, I don't want to push any pressure on you." She leaned back in her seat as Noah looked at his watch before gathering everything into his backpack. "You know that you can just get Dak to drive you to Rocque Records you know." She said to him.

"And have Logan freak out at the idea of Dak being there, let alone with my sister, no thanks, I'll take the bus." Noah replied with a scoff as he continued to pack his backpack. "I mean, the guy's one of my best friends, but I don't think he realizes that Ri and Rhu aren't 8 anymore." He said, speaking mostly to himself. "He's going to get a rude wakeup call when he realizes it." He looked up as Dak walked into the kitchen slowly. "Hey Dak." He greeted with a slight nod.

"Hey Dude," Dak replied as he gave Noah the peace sign. He then looked over at his sister with a suspicious look. "I hope I wasn't interrupting something."

"Liar!" Lizzie accused as she stuck out her tongue at her brother. "You know that you wanted to ruin a moment." She then smiled teasingly at him.

"It's what guys do," Noah defended his friends. "Guys with a sister at least," He replied and then shrugged into his backpack. "I'll see you guys later." He gave the two of them a wave before leaving the house, closing the front door quietly behind him.

Dak turned back to his sister, noticing that she was pointedly looking down at her bowl of watermelon as she put a small piece into her mouth. He studied her for a moment, noticing that she didn't seem as vibrant as usual. Normally he couldn't get her to shut up and now she was hardly saying a word. She didn't spend as much time with Katie in the past couple of days either, but that was probably due to how much time Lizzie put into her dancing as well as the fact that the two of them were probably trying to get used to having a new boyfriend.

_Not that __I __have to get used to it. _Dak thought to himself as he plopped himself down into the seat across from her. He reached out and snagged a piece of watermelon and slid it into his mouth, laughing as Lizzie, moving a bit too slow, tried to stab him with her fork. "Alright," he picked up a napkin and rubbed it across his mouth. "What's the matter?"

"What?" Lizzie asked, wrinkling her nose as she lifted her head. She looked at her brother, lightly tilting her head to the side. "What are you talking about?"

Dak reached out and gently righted Lizzie's head again. "I wouldn't do that," he advised her. "You'd get stuck with the 'dumb blonde' stereotype." He reassured her. "And I'm talking about _you_," he lightly tapped her on the tip of her nose. "You're not acting like yourself, and I would know, since I've known you since you were born, I can always tell when something's wrong."

"Then your 'Big Brother Radar' must be broken," Lizzie replied deadpan. "Because I'm fine." She twirled her fork in her hand, impatiently. "And you don't have to worry about me; I'm not going to break at every slight thing that could potentially go wrong in my life." She added sharply.

Dak frowned, unconvinced. "I can't help but worry about you Liz," He said quietly and reached out, smoothing Lizzie's hair from her face. "Especially since Mom and Dad are hardly around." He added, resting his arms on the table.

"I know," Lizzie pulled her face out of his hands as she stabbed at her piece of watermelon. "But you don't have to. I'm a big girl." She placed the piece of fruit into her mouth. "I can take care of myself."

* * *

><p>"1, 2, 3, 4, and slide, double-step, back on your feet!" Rhuben counted, slowly walking back and forth in front of Big Time Rush as they worked on the routine that she had come up with. She made a face when she noticed Carlos's stumble and then waved her arms, signaling Patrick to turn off the boom box. "Carlos!" She held her face in her hands, sucking in her mouth, before walking over to the shortest one of her friends. "You know your right from your left, right?"<p>

"Right," Carlos replied with a nod and a bright smile.

"Cool," Rhuben scratched the side of her neck before placing her hands on her hips. "Could you show me?" She took a small step back. "Which is your left hand?" She waited as Carlos slowly held up his left hand, after thinking about it for a second. "Ok, so, why can't you remember that, when you're dancing?"

"Oh, don't worry about him, Beautiful," James said with a light laugh as he lifted the bottom of his shirt, flashing his abs as he did so, to wipe the sweat off of his face. "He's always been a little challenged." He twirled a finger by his head as Sydney laughed, gathering their stuff together. "Great dance by the way, it's really cool. _Very_ futuristic, I like it."

"Well," Riley spoke up, throwing her arm around her sister's shoulder as Rhuben shrugged modestly. "As soon as we saw the new song that you guys are working on, she got the idea for it and worked on it day and night until it was perfect."

Rhuben turned her head and looked at her sister, staring hard at her. "Get off me." She said.

"Got it," Riley nodded and quickly removed her arm.

"It's a nice try through, Handsome," Rhuben said as she turned back to her tall friend. "But your sexy washboard abs and your compliment aren't going to keep me from running your asses into the ground the next time you need to work on it." She said, causing Logan, who was taking a sip of water, to choke and spit water onto the floor.

"Whoa, Logan, are you ok?" Patrick asked as he slapped him hard on the back, causing him to spit even more water on the floor.

"I'm fine," Logan replied as he gasped for air, resting his hands on his knees as he leaned over, trying to get some air. "I'm fine." He waved a hand and stood up straight before giving Rhuben an odd look. "It's just…I never thought that I would ever hear the word 'sexy' come out of your mouth." He winced as he said it himself.

Rhuben looked over at Riley and the two rolled their eyes. "You obviously haven't heard them gossiping with Jo, Camille, and Stephanie then." Sydney said with a grin as Patrick continued to pat Logan on the back, making sure that he was careful. He gulped when his twin sisters turned and glared at him. "What? It's not _my _fault that being ten years old and being a genius has given me an uncontrollable thirst for knowledge." He defended himself.

"He's just trying to say that he enjoys snooping in a nice way," Noah said with a light laugh as he rolled his eyes, flicking his hair out of his face. He lightly pulled at his lower lip. "But it's not his fault, if anything; he learned it from you two." He added, pointing over to the girls.

"It seems to me that when it comes to things like this, you can't win." Kendall said with a laugh when he noticed the sour looks on the girls' faces. He rolled up a towel before flicking it to the side, hitting Rhuben on the butt. She let out a loud yelp as she jumped backwards, rubbing herself. "Sorry, I couldn't resist."

"I bet." Riley replied as she sat down and started to change from her dance shoes to her pair of Vans.

"Guys, I think we're missing the main point here," James said and then turned back to Rhuben, wiggling his eyebrows. "You think my abs are sexy?" he questioned.

"I'm not afraid to admit it" Rhuben replied with a smirk.

"Sorry, wouldn't your boyfriend have a problem with you saying that?" Logan asked, finally regaining his breath.

Rhuben looked at him out of the corner of her eye. "_Dak_ doesn't care if I comment on how good looking I think someone else is." She replied pointedly. "But I'm sure that Camille would if you said it about anyone else." She threw back.

"Great," Riley clasped her hands together. "Just so we can all get rid of the tension that's floating around here," she waved her hands in the air before getting to her feet and grabbed her bag. "I think that we should be going." She pointed over her shoulder. "Besides, I think that, at this point, Gustavo and Ronan are having their daily fight about now and I don't want to miss any blood."

"Ladies and Gentleman, my eldest sister." Patrick said and gave a sarcastic clap as he crossed the room to grab his own bag. He let out a cry as Rhuben and Noah reached out at the same time and smacked him on the back of the head.

"Hey Riles, could you wait up a second?" Kendall asked as he tossed his towel back in to his bag. She turned around and gave him a curious look, although she seemed impatient at the same time. "It'll just take a second, I promise." He added.

"It better," Riley replied as she crossed her arms over her chest. "'Cause I have a lot better things to do than stand around waiting for you to stop beating around the bush to get to your point." She flashed a fake smile. "Like you usually do."

"Ha," Kendall laughed once. "Good to see that you still have your daily quota of annoying me still going."

"It's just 'cause it's-"

"Just so easy, I know." Kendall finished the thought along with her. "You wouldn't be able to function without getting under my skin somehow." He paused for a moment. "Which reminds me, did I tell you what happened with Bitters after school today?"

"Not yet," Riley replied, shaking her head.

The two were alluding to the fact that shortly after DE started working with BTR, Kendall would try and break the ice with them by telling them a story; what went on at the PalmWoods or at school, or what happened in their apartment the night before. Eventually, while he would tell the story to all of DE, he would look forward to being able to tell Riley what happened. He had even been caught numerous times looking at the clock for when they arrived.

"Remind me to do that later," Kendall said and then waved a hand, going back onto the original topic that he wanted to bring up. He moved his hands together into a prayer position, lightly holding his breath. "So, I was wondering if you wanted to go to the Santa Monica pier with me tonight." Kendall asked. "That is, if you're not doing anything."

"Uh," Riley thought for a moment a she pulled her bag up over her shoulder. "Why not?" She shrugged and gave him a smirk. "I'm not doing anything later and I'm sure that some way you'd be able to cure me of my infinite boredom. I just hope you're up to the challenge" She then put her fingers to her forehead in an 'L' formation and mouthed the word 'loser', causing Kendall to roll his eyes.

"Ri, come on." Sydney called from the doorway, where he was waiting patiently for her.

"Coming," Riley said to him and turned on her heel and walking over to him, pulling out her ponytail as she did so.

"Bye guys," Sydney waved at them. He paused as he let Riley out of the room, looking between Kendall and James before smiling at them and leaving the dance studio.

Kendall smiled to himself as he went back to his bag to pack everything away. Logan noticed and lightly tossed his half-used water bottle at him a mischievous glint returning to his eye. "What's that smile on your face for?" He asked.

"Well," Kendall continued to pretend to be busy with his bag, trying to fight the smile that was sliding onto his face. "I just asked Riley out to the Santa Monica pier with me tonight and she said 'yes'." He replied.

"Cool!" Carlos smiled warmly at his friends. "The Santa Monica Pier, really romantic." He gave a thumbs up that Kendall saw in the mirror. "Nice call."

"That's funny," James muttered under his breath as he changed his shoes. Kendall looked at his reflection in the mirror and James noticed, shrugging. "What?" He asked. Kendall continued to look at him and James sighed, untying his shoes. "It's nothing." He shrugged. "I just think that it's a little weird, considering her past and everything and how long it took for her to trust us." He shrugged again. "You know if she even fully does yet." He paused. "Or any of them for that matter."

"You know," Kendall slowly stood up and turned to his friend, crossing his arms over his chest. "If I didn't know any better, I would say that you're jealous." He stared challengingly at James, who looked back at him blankly before licking his lips and opening his mouth to speak.

"About _what _exactly?" He asked slowly, getting to his feet.

"About the fact that for once, the girl didn't choose you." Kendall replied with a short shrug.

James let out a short laugh and ran his hands through his hair before stepped up into Kendall's face, narrowing his eyes at him. He had to look down a little bit so he could look Kendall in the eye. "And you think that she chose _you_?" He replied and then let out a little laugh. "You see, I didn't want to have to tell you this, because of your feelings for her for the last half year or so." He placed his hands on Kendall's shoulders. "She doesn't like you."

"Oh yeah?" Kendall asked.

"Yeah." James replied.

"Oh come on guys," Carlos moved in between Kendall and James, pushing them apart from each other. "Don't fight about this," He thought for a moment. "Didn't we make that pact back in the third grade," he smiled over at Logan. "After Logie came along, that our friendship wouldn't be threatened by a possible girlfriend."

"Yeah, but we didn't say anything about a girl that just so happens to be our friend," James reminded him. "Not that it would matter anyway, because it would be against the rules of our band as it is." He turned his attention back to Kendall as he snorted.

"Since when does she or I for that matter, actually follow the rules?" Kendall replied, a smirk growing across his face. He was sure that he had James beat with this one, for once James wouldn't be the center of attention and he was sure it was driving his taller friend nuts.

James let out a growl of frustration as he ran his hands over his face. "Ok, seriously, she doesn't like you." He stated through gritted teeth. His shoulders slumped. "She likes me." He added quietly.

"What?" Kendall, Logan, and Carlos all asked in unison, looking at James with odd expressions on their faces.

James nodded. "That one day that they had that benefit concert thing, I was running away from Natalie," he explained.

Carlos snorted as he crossed his arms over his chest. "She _still_ doesn't get that you don't want to see her? I mean, you ran away from her at the benefit concert, and so far you've managed to keep her _away_ from the PalmWoods by sending her on all of these tours that no one cares about." He and Logan shook their heads as they gave him pointed stares.

"Hey," James held up his finger defensively. "You try telling a girl that doesn't take 'no' for an answer that you don't want to see her." He then gave a funny look. "Wow, I'm dating my mom." He said and then shuddered at the thought. "Anyway, when they were leaving, she asked to talk to me, said that she had feelings for me and asked me out." He shrugged. "But I said 'no' because I didn't think that she was actually attracted to me and I don't think that I was right for her."

"Wait a second," Logan held up a finger as he moved over to his three friends. "If what you said is true, how come I wouldn't be the first one to know?" He asked as he pointed to himself, looking hurt and offended at the same time. He prided himself on the friendship that he had with Riley and Rhuben, especially having to repair it after being apart for so many years. So it alienated him a little bit when he seemed to be the last one to know something when he was sure he would be the first one to know.

"Because she asked me not to say anything." James replied with an exasperated sigh. "Besides, Jo probably knew this before I even knew it."

"That's not helpful." Logan replied, shaking his head.

"Then why did she just agree to go on a date with me?" Kendall shot back, his hands starting to twitch at his sides.

"Did she _know_ that you were asking her on a date?" James said. "'Cause if she does, I think that she agreed a _little_ too quickly there." He pointed out.

Kendall's upper lip curled a little bit at the thought. He had to admit that James actually had a point on that one. He had never known her to be the kind of person that, when asked out, or even just asked to hang out with him or any other guy to agree immediately. It was different when she was around the girls, she could hang out with them and not have as many problems, but that was only because, like any of them knew, that while she and her siblings were very wary and hard to feel comfortable around guys they haven't known long, it didn't take nearly as long to be comfortable around girls. So there was something a bit the whole situation.

James must have noticed the defeated look move through Kendall's eyes, for he smiled and turned to get his own bag. Kendall snatched his own bag off of the ground and addressed James as he turned back around.

"You know, I always thought that you were jealous because Gustavo wanted me here more than you, but I pushed that aside because I didn't want to feel like a jerk if I was wrong," Kendall looked James right in the eye as he glared at him. "But I never thought that you would be so jealous over the fact that a girl that _you_," he reached out and jabbed James in the chest. "Turned down, is going out with me. It's pathetic, really, it is."

With that, he pulled his bag up over his shoulder and left the dance studio, slamming the door shut behind him.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** It took me a while to figure out what Noah's drama was going to be and I showed/hinted at it here. Knowing what I have planned, I'm probably going to trick you with what's going on with Lizzie, but kudos to anyone that can figure it out here. What did you think about the Nizzie moment, the Dak/Lizzie brother-sister moment, the small Kiley moment, and the fight with Kendall and James in this chapter?

Sorry for those that are waiting for it but drama with Natalie, Racy moments, and more music is coming in the next chapter.

Cheers,

-Riles


	19. Love Me Love Me

**.:Chapter Nineteen – Love Me Love Me:.**

* * *

><p>"James, come back here!"<p>

"No thanks!"

Jo, Camille, and Stephanie looked up and watched as James came blasting into the PalmWoods lobby, running as fast as he could, his brown hair flying over his face as they did so. Behind him a tall blonde girl was walking fast, obviously being careful not to trip in or break her heels. James darted behind Stephanie's chair, moving her so she was effectively covering him.

"Uh James, what are you doing?" Stephanie asked as she twisted around to look at him. She then flipped her hand when James continued to peer out from behind her chair. "I mean, _apart_ from hiding from your ex-girlfriend."

"See, that's sort of the problem," James let out a sheepish smile as he poked his head out from behind the chair. "We never really-"

Jo and Camille let out loud gasps, causing Stephanie to jump and James to hold onto the chair, ducking back down once more. Stephanie stared, making a face when she looked over at Jo and Camille. Being a tomboy, she sometimes had a hard time figuring out why those did the things they did, but at the same time, the differences is what made them some of the best friends ever. But still, some things they did just made them look completely crazy.

Stephanie leaned forward and closed their mouths for them. "Just so the flies to get to you," She explained, as they shifted their blank stares over to her.

"James," Camille slowly pushed her hair behind her ears. "You didn't break up with her before you came out to LA did you?" She leaned down and grabbed James by the collar of the shirt and, with difficulty, heaved him into the empty chair that was at their table. James waved his arms and the three girls rolled their eyes before shifting around so Natalie had a harder time looking for him. "That's it, isn't it?"

"Well," James hesitated for a moment. "Yeah, that's the reason why." He held his hands up defensively as the three girls gave him disgusted looks. "Ok, I just felt a chill go over my body. What's wrong with that?"

"Well, you're basically leading her on." Stephanie replied patiently.

"How is my not talking to her, leading her on?" James asked, his eyes widening with surprise and confusion. "I haven't talked to her since I got out here."

"Well, you haven't exactly told her that you guys are completely over," Camille explained patiently. "Girls don't like it when guys beat around the bush." She thought for a moment. "The fact that you haven't told her it's over and are now running from her makes it seem like it's a game to her."

"Like, if she catches you, she finally wins." Jo reiterated, to make things clearer for him.

"Oh," James blinked once, his nose wrinkling a little bit. He scratched the back of his neck, mulling it over a little bit. "Well, that actually makes some sense." He seemed to be completely enraptured by that piece of news. He saw up straight and crossed his arms over his chest. "You know, it makes sense as to why you girls are always saying that you're smarter than us guys."

"Mmm," Camille smiled warmly. "It's because it's true." She then pointed a light purple polished nail over to Jo. "And she knows the most out of all of us." She noticed Jo looking over her shoulder, flinching whenever someone would pass her chair and her eyebrows furrowed as she exchanged looked with Stephanie.

"Hey Jo," Stephanie reached out and lightly shook Jo's wrist, looking concerned. "Are you ok?"

"Yeah," Jo turned back around, her hair whipping across her face as she gave a pleasant smile. "I'm fine, just looking to see who's here." She cleared her throat as she turned to James. "Now," she rested her arms on the table as she looked at him straight in the eye. "What's going on with you and Riley?"

"I'm not jealous, ok?" James snapped, slapping his hands down onto the table.

"Whoa," Stephanie crossed her arms over her chest as she leaned back in her seat, startled, yet intrigued by his outburst. "Ok, what's going on?" She waved her hands around his head. "I feel some sort of angry tension around you." She pressed a finger against her lips. "Who said anything about you being jealous?"

James let out a exasperated sigh. "A few days ago, I don't know how long it's been, nor do I care, Kendall and I got into a fight because after Riley asked me out and I turned her down, he asked _her_ out and she said 'yes'. Me, thinking that it was kind of weird that she agreed so quickly, since she doesn't seem like the type of girl to try and make a guy jealous, mentioned that I thought that it was weird, and Kendall accused me of being jealous about it."

"_Are_ you jealous?" Camille prompted.

"No," James shook his head. He then looked at the three girls that looked back at him and shook his head. "At least not that I'm aware of. If I was, it would be, as shallow as it sounds, because I wouldn't get as much attention from her that I'm used to."

"Yes, and we all know that all you care about is attention." Jo teased, but then quickly regained her composure. "Anyway, I think you actually hit the nail on the head there," she added, tapping the table. "You're not jealous that she went out with him, you're just used to your flirty…friendship thing that you have going on with her and Rhu, and because they're starting to date you think that that friendship would be jeopardized."

"Ah," James held up a finger. "Not for Rhu, apparently Dak doesn't care whether or not she flirts with me or tells another guy that she thinks he's good looking." He shrugged and then smiled. "Not that that would stop her."

"Well that makes sense," Camille rolled her eyes as she shook her head. "Seems to _me_ that Logan's insecurities is everything that Dak is _good at_ or _fine with_." She seemed to stab the table with each emphasized word, causing Stephanie to look at him weirdly.

"Please," Jo held up a finger. "One patient at a time." She turned her attention back to James. "And, like Kendall did say, you think it's weird that someone you had a chance with, and turned down went out with him. Now, knowing Riles, she probably didn't think it was a date, and they're just getting closer before she realizes that they're _perfect_ for each other!" She slapped the table for emphasis before smiling and crossing her arms over her chest.

"So if you actually do become some sort of a love doctor, do we have to pay you?" Stephanie asked curiously. "Because you seem to be able to fix every problem that any of us have."

"Except my own," Jo murmured to herself, running a hand through her hair. She sat up in her seat and waved Riley and Rhuben over, noticing that they had arrived at the pool. Kendall, Logan, and Carlos were behind them. "By any chance, are you and Kendall still fighting?"

"More like trying our best to avoid a fight at this moment in time," James replied.

"Ooh," Jo bit her fingernail. "I might have just made things worse than." She sat up straight and put on a fake smile as the others gathered around their table. "Hey, where are your brothers?" She asked Riley and Rhuben as they settled down in their chairs.

"Oh," Rhuben stretched her arms. "They're working on their part of our new song, Burn It To The Ground." She lowered her arms as she finished stretching. "Ri and I finished our part yesterday and Ronan gave us the day off and said they couldn't leave until they got it done." She smirked. "Last I checked, Patrick and Noah were ignoring Sydney as they were arguing over what steps were next. I think they're going to be stuck there all day at this rate."

"Cool, can we hear the song?" Kendall asked, leaning forward and resting his arms on the table.

"Not unless we hear yours first, Eyebrows," Riley replied quickly, repeatedly hitting him on the shoulder with her index finger. He made a face and moved her hand away. "It's only fair."

"Yeah, whatever," Kendall shifted his eyes over to James and the two stared hard at each other. "If you don't have a problem with it, at least." He added. Riley rolled her eyes and let out a curse under her breath.

"No, I don't have a problem at all." James replied as casually as possible.

"Ok, this is going to get on my fucking nerves, so I might as well get it out of the way!" Riley shifted herself in her seat so she was sitting on one of her legs.

"Uh-Oh," Carlos sang-whispered into Stephanie's ear. "Something tells me that she's going to explode."

Riley turned to James and spoke through gritted teeth. "Yes, I liked you before and I asked you out. You turned me down and I'm ok with that, you're still my goofy, somewhat narcissistic friend and I love that about you and our friendship isn't going to be awkward because there's nothing different with our friendship now." She turned to Kendall. "And yes, we hung out at the Santa Monica Pier? So what? If Carlos had asked me, I would have hung out with him too." She must have missed the confused and hurt look that Kendall gave her for he kept going at such a rapid pace it was hard for anyone to understand her. "So I don't see what the problem is, and you two should stop acting like boofheads long enough to get this freaking CD done. If, after that, you want to kill each other, then by all means go ahead."

_I guess she didn't think it was a date at all. _Jo thought to herself as she rested her chin in her hands. She looked over at Kendall, who started to play around with his shoelaces. _And I guess he did, poor Kendall. I guess this is how Riles felt when James turned __her__ down._

Stephanie, noticing the tension around the table, looked up, noticing movement and gave James a amused smile. "I think that Natalie finally found you." She pointed out and nodded behind him.

James let out a sigh, squeezing his eyes shut. "Oh god, please no." He didn't turned around until he felt a sharp tap on his shoulder and then feigned surprise. "Natalie, oh, fancy seeing you here." He said and then waved a hand around at his friends. "These are my friends, you remember my friends right?"

"Yeah," Logan gave a sarcastic wave and smile. "We're his friends; we don't have names at all." He snickered as Carlos elbowed him in the side and the two started to giggle quietly with each other. "It's nice to see you again, Natalie."

Camille reached out and hit Logan on the arm. "Grow up," she whispered to them. "It's not _that_ funny, do you _not_ see how annoyed he is?"

"That's why it's funny." Stephanie reminded her.

"Yeah, I remember everyone," Natalie said with a smile towards Kendall, Logan, and Carlos. "Hey guys, how are you?" She then looked at the girls and her eyes narrowed a little bit. "But I don't think I've met any of your _other_ friends." She added and then plastered on a fake smile once more before reaching out and rubbing James's arm. "Jamie, we really need to talk."

"Jamie?" Rhuben repeated with a snort.

"Yeah, well," James slowly stood up from his seat. "I'm actually kind of busy at the moment, in fact, I'm busy until I die, so I think that it would be better if we just talked later." He placed his hands on her shoulders, hoping to turn her around and push her away, but she just stepped closer to him, causing him to take another step back.

"But we really need to talk." She moved forward again and he took two steps back.

"About what, exactly?" He rounded the table, moving backwards, and she continued to move towards him, as his friends watched in amusement.

"About us." Natalie insisted.

"There _is_ no us," James replied and moved a chair in front of him as he started to round the pool. He gulped as Natalie quickly moved it aside as she continued to chase him. She pouted.

"Don't you think that it's something that we should be able to talk about?" She asked him, moving a little faster, causing James to speed up as he back-pedaled towards his friends. "Quietly? Alone? Together?"

"I like to talk with witnesses," James said and then stopped at the table once more. "Besides, it's not a good idea because…because…" he trailed off as he tried to think of an excuse.

"Because," Jo finally rescued him as she got to her feet and wrapped her arms around his arm, leaning into him. "He's my boyfriend and I don't think I would be comfortable with you talking alone with him." She narrowed her eyes at Natalie. "James is really bad when it comes to telling people things he thinks will hurt their feelings, but I'll do it for him." She took a breath, knowing that her next words would come back to haunt her. "James is _my _boyfriend, he doesn't want you anymore. And because I know that you're only here to get back together with him for his money, you can just forget it." She stood up on her tip-toes and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

Natalie's lower lip trembled and she lowered her gaze to the floor before lifting her head up again. "I was thinking of moving out here," she said lamely, although everyone could tell that she was trying to save face. "Now I'm thinking it's not such a good idea." She looked at her watch. "I have to get going, I think my parents are looking for me." She turned to James. "It was nice seeing you again, James."

James nodded back and watched as she left before turning to Jo. "Thanks so much, Jo, I don't know how I'll ever be able to thank you." He said as the two of them sat back down. He reached out to grab her hands so he could shake them, but then stopped, looking confused. "Are you ok? You're shaking. I mean, I know I have that affect on girls, but not like that."

Jo quickly pulled her hands away. "I'm fine," she replied and then addressed Kendall, Logan, Carlos, and James once more, making sure her hands were in her lap. "I'm just kind of cold, really, I'm fine." She changed the subject. "Can we hear your song now?"

"Sure," Carlos nodded. "This song is called Love Me Love Me and it has a really electropop sound to it, so we hope you guys like this one."

"Love me, love me, say you're gonna love me, I know you're ready to go." Logan started off the song, snapping his fingers to keep the beat of the song. "I'm, I'm ready to go."

"Jaw drop, heart stop, we eye lock," Kendall started singing, lightly hitting his leg to keep time as well. "I must be dreaming, don't hit the alarm clock. Under the lights, coming alive, she "thriller" tonight. One dance, two dance is not enough," he waved a hand as if telling someone to 'stop'. "You got that glow in the dark so I'm not giving up. I'm reading your mind, you know I'm a psychic. Why you try to hide it, hide it?"

"Love me, love me, say you're gonna love me, I know you're ready to go." The four of them sang together with Logan on lead vocals. "Love me, love me, say you're gonna love me. Don't leave me out on the floor."

"I'm saying woah, don't tell me no." James sang, lowering his voice as each line went on.

"Love me, love me, say you're gonna love me. I'm I'm I'm ready to go. I'm I'm ready to go. Love me love me, lo-love me lo-love me. Love me love me, lo-love me. I'm I'm ready to go."

"Can't stop, won't stop, we party rock," Carlos sang and then turned to Stephanie as he sang the next line. "You got those red velvet lips sweet like Betty Crock-ER." She laughed, recognizing it as he said it to her before. "So call a doctor. Cause someone needs to take your temperature, you're getting hotter." He pretended to fan himself, causing the girls to laugh appreciatively.

"Under the lights, coming alive, she "thriller" tonight," James came in singing again. "I'm reading your mind, you know I'm a psychic. Why you try to hide it, hide it?"

"When I rock, you roll, you're losing control." Logan sang as Kendall, James, and Carlos started to clap along with the lyrics.

"And if you got that feeling, throw your hands up in the air." James sang and held out the last word as the other three moved into the chorus once more.

"Love me, love me, say you're gonna love me I know you're ready to go. Love me, love me, say you're gonna love me. Don't leave me out on the floor. I'm saying woah. Don't tell me no. Love me, love me, say you're gonna love me. I'm I'm I'm ready to go. I'm I'm ready to go."

"You be Juliet, I'll be Romeo, what you waiting for you know you wanna go." Carlos and Logan sang in unison, smiling at each othera s they did so. "Don't say goodbye cause we just said hello. Say your gonna love me girl cause I need to know."

Kendall paused for a moment and turned to Rhuben, who was listening quietly. "This is the part where we thought it would be good for that small routine that you came up with. The song file that we have there would really would really work with it."

"Cool," Rhuben nodded. "Can't wait until I get the music for that part."

"So basically going through the chorus again a few times is the end of the song." Carlos said as he licked his lips. "I mean, that's basically it," he shrugged and smiled as Stephanie gave him a hug. "It would have been better with the music there."

"That was as great as I thought it was going to be!" Camille stated as she clapped her hands excitedly. "I would have liked to be able to see the dance routine that you came up with though, Rhu." She added with a smile to her friend.

"Yeah, too bad we couldn't see their heads crack open on the cement," Riley said with over the top enthusiasm. "That would have been _hysterical!_" She started picking at her nails as she brought her knees to her chest.

"So," James looked back and forth between the twin girls. "Can we hear your song?"

"Why hear it when you can watch it?" Rhuben asked. She shoved her hands into the front pocket of the sweatshirt that she was wearing and dug around for her digital camera. Stephanie tilted her head to the side as she watched her.

"Hey Rhubes, aren't you a bit hot in that sweatshirt?" She asked, subtly bringing attention to the fact that everyone else was in t-shirts and shorts. "It's like, 90 degrees out."

"No, I'm freezing," Rhuben muttered in reply as she pulled out her digital camera and scrolled through a few videos until she found the one that she was looking for. "Ronan told us that some people at the company thought that it would be a good idea if we, like you guys, made our songs a bit more mature, along with our look and our dancing, since we're getting older and everything."

"We showed it to Ronan already, and so far he really likes it." Riley added with a proud smile. "He thinks that the direction that we went for the song was a really good idea." She took the digital camera from Rhuben and adjusted a bit of the settings before starting the video and moved the camera into the center of the table for everyone to see.

Riley and Rhuben sat back, watching as their friends watched the video. They were staying true to their idea that you just had to have a lot of confidence in yourself to be considered hot or sexy and it was hown here, while they, listening to Blazing Phoenix Records's request to amping up their image a little, used their hips and swung their legs more, it was still true to their original style.

"As any self-respecting guy, I just want to say that that was great," James said as soon as the video ended.

Riley laughed as she shook her head. "Thanks Handsome." She said as Rhuben took back her camera.

"With all of the energy that you put in just dancing, I can't wait to see what it looks like when you're performing it with your instruments." Kendall added with a nod of his own. "Especially the drum portion of it, I think that fill in here was really cool and I can't wait to see it live."

"If that part was that good," Jo spoke up. "I can't wait to see it all together. Or," she gave a sly smile. "Be in the video maybe."

"Jose," Rhuben said patiently. "We told you before that when the time comes, you can be in one of our videos." She turned to Logan, who was quiet. "You haven't said anything about the video yet, what did you think?"

"I think it different." He replied after a moment.

"What does that mean?" Riley asked, her eyebrows raising.

"Nothing against it," Logan said quickly. "Because you did such an amazing job as you usually do when it comes to choreography, it just doesn't seem like…" he thought for a moment. "It doesn't seem like you." He concluded. "I mean, you two are usually so defiant and unique with the skill that you put into your dancing to rock songs."

"Since most people can't make a routine to rock music at all." Carlos said, hoping to keep Logan from putting his feet in his mouth. "I'm sure even the best choreographer in the world couldn't think of one." Rhuben smiled at him.

"Right," Logan nodded and kept going before pointing to the digital camera again. "But with that song, it seems like you're trying to so hard to be like other girls that-"

"You might as well stop right there," Riley commented as she held her hand up in front of Logan's face. She let out a sarcastic laugh. "God, is there _any _reason that you're acting like _such _a prick lately?" She demanded, causing Logan's eyes to widen and everyone's mouths to drop open. "'Cause you're already starting to piss me THE FUCK OFF." Yelling the last few words, all conversation stopped and everyone turned to see what was going on. If it were possible for her eyes to turn red as well, they would have been blood red at that point.

"What are you talking about?" Logan asked, his heart thudding in his chest.

"How the fuck can you _not_ know what I'm talking about?" Riley demanded, Rhuben sitting beside her quietly. "You've only been doing it ever since we started working on these _stupid_ CDs!" She waved her hands in the air before stabbing her finger over at Kendall, James, and Carlos. "I'm sure these three idiots have already figured it out too."

"Riles," Camille held her hands out, lightly patting the air with them. "Maybe you should calm down, people are starting to stare."

"LIKE I GIVE A FUCK IF THEY STARE," Riley spat at her before turning back to Logan. "You-"

"At the point of making this conversation moving quickly and not being drawn out as long," Rhuben said calmly as she held her hand over her sister's mouth. She studied her reddened skin. "And your head blowing up let me handle this." She waited until Riley crossed her arms over her chest and tapped her foot on the ground before turning back to Logan. "I'm going to ask you a _very_ simple question," she said in almost a whisper.

Logan nodded slowly, his eyes shifting over to Camille, who looked back at him sympathetically. He could tell that the two of them were super angry, as Riley was practically screaming at the top of her lungs and he could barely hear Rhuben as it was. It was usually funny to watch when the two of them were mad, because they were polar opposites when they expressed it, but when it was directed towards you, it was nothing short of scary.

"When you look at me or at Riles for that matter," Rhuben paused as she scanned her friends' faces. She knew that they wanted to leave, but at the same time, were too stunned not to watch what was going on. Plus, it wasn't like it would stay a secret between their whole group of friends for long anyway. "What do you see?"

"My friends," Logan replied quietly. He licked his lips and cleared his throat. "My best friends who-"

"Can you really call us your best friends when we haven't talked since we were 8?" Riley blurted out the question. Rhuben turned and glared at her, and she held her hands up, taking a step back, allowing Rhuben to take control of the conversation again.

"That aside," Rhuben shot Riley another look and then turned back to Logan. "What I meant was, when you look at us, do you see us as your friends from when you were 8? Or two 17 year old girls that had to grow up faster than most people would have liked." She placed a hand on her chest, her voice lowering even more. "If I had to guess, I would say that you're so desperate to prove that we're still friends that you're trying desperately to hold onto what we used to be, instead of moving forward and making our friendship even better than it was before." She rolled her eyes. "Which is really sad."

"What do you want me to do?" Logan asked, finally raising his voice.

"Accept it and move on!" Riley snapped. "That's what we want you to do. Instead of slamming every move that we make in _our_ career and bad-mouthing whomever we decide to go out with," her eyes flicked over to Kendall and James for a moment. "Just support us. It's really none of your business what we do, but we're being your friends by letting you in on our successes."

Rhuben pressed a hand against her mouth, looking like she wanted to say something else. But she raised her hands in the air, backed up her chair and slid out of it. "I just need to calm down for a bit, but I'll meet you in your apartment later." She said to Stephanie before stepping around her and leaving the pool.

"Are you ok, Beautiful?" James asked, placing a hand on her shoulder, stopping her before she left.

"I'll be fine," she replied with a nod.

Logan took in another breath and turned to Riley, who still had her arms crossed over her chest. "Are you done, too?" He asked.

"That depends," Riley replied after a moment. She raised and lowered her left shoulder. "Do you want me to keep yelling?"

"No," Logan shook his head.

"Then I'm done." She replied and left the pool as well.

Logan looked down at his feet, barely noticing it when Camille walked over and gently wrapped her arms around him in a hug, resting her chin on his shoulder. He thought back to the night they were at the club and he had gotten that feeling that something bad was going to happen. It now came back and hit him in the gut, full force.

It seemed that now, for all of his friends, drama was following them and it wasn't going to let go until things were either completely broken down or completely resolved.

And he didn't see that happening any time soon.

* * *

><p>Kacy hummed to herself as she dried her hands off on a dishtowel, having just finished washing the dishes. She sighed as she turned and looked around the apartment. It was spotless, now she wasn't sure what to do. She had the apartment all to herself…and she didn't know what to do with herself. So with her free time she started to clean, and now that she was done with that, there was nothing else to do.<p>

She tossed the dishtowel onto the counter. She wasn't cleaning for the sake of cleaning; she was cleaning to let out some frustration. Apart from the fact that her stress levels had been steadily climbing since she became the boys' Momager, she was actually really annoyed with herself. She had gone out on a date with Ronan and she had thought that things had gone very well; they had a nice conversation over dinner, and then they went mini-golfing, which just gave them more time to talk.

And their kiss goodnight…

Kacy closed her eyes as she thought about it. It was _supposed_ to be a gentle peck, but then it turned to more than that. She could feel something between the two of them. At the time she wasn't sure if it was because she hadn't been with anyone since her ex-husband…but she knew it was something more. Kacy opened her eyes and shook her head. And he hadn't talked to her since their date and it was making her more than worried.

She looked up as there was a knock on the door and wiped her hands off on the sides of her jeans before walking over to the door. She pulled it open and looked at Ronan, who looked sheepishly back at her, his hands behind his back. Kacy thought about what to say, she had a lot of ideas of what to say, but none of them would come out.

"Yes?" She finally asked, brushing some of her auburn hair out of her eyes.

Removing one hand from behind his back, Ronan moved forward and placed a hand on her neck, giving her a breathtaking kiss. When he pulled away, she couldn't think. She could only blink rapidly as he smiled down at her.

"I figured that I should have done that first, to make sure that these stood a chance," Ronan continued as he moved a bouquet of roses from behind his back and handed them to her. "If that's not too corny or anything."

"It's corny," Kacy replied as she took them and looked them over, before sniffing them lightly. "And something that's usually only reserved for Valentine's Day." She added, giving him a look as she moved them away from her face once more.

Ronan chuckled. "Let me guess, you have a different favorite flower?" He thought for a moment. "Petunias?"

"Sunflowers," Kacy corrected him, before turning and setting the bouquet of flowers on the counter. She turned back around to see Ronan stepping into the apartment. She stopped him as she held up a hand. "I didn't say that you could come in." She told him and he smiled in amusement before taking a few steps back out of the door.

She let out a sigh as she moved her hair off of her shoulder, scratching the side of her neck. Ronan wasn't stupid; he knew why she was mad at him and why she was acting that way. He knew that he had to explain why he had been somewhat of a recluse lately, but at the same time, he wasn't srue if he could admit it out loud.

It would just make things more real.

"Listen, I need to tell someone this, and I can't tell my kids or they will immediately freak out, which is what I don't want, and I can't tell Gustavo or Kelly or they'll start to pity me and I don't want that either." Ronan said all in one breath.

Kacy couldn't help but show intense concern. "Are you alright? Is everything ok?"

"Physically, I'm fine," Ronan replied quickly. "But…the fact that this is going to affect the way that I live my life…well…on that point, I think I might pass out or something." He said frankly, rubbing the back of his head and letting out a nervous breath.

"Come in," Kacy pulled him in by his wrist, closing the door behind him. "Everyone's down at the pool, so you don't have to worry about being overhead or anything." She added when she noticed him warily looking around the apartment. He nodded and sat down on the couch, running his hands through his hair before placing his face in his hands. "It must be something big if you can't say anything."

Ronan nodded.

"What is it?" Kacy asked, crossing her legs as she leaned towards him. Ronan kept his face in his hands, staying silent for a few more minutes. "What?" She insisted.

Ronan lifted his head, looking like he was about to cry. "Because my kids…we would rather have people go out and physically buy our CDs and with technology being the way it is…if these new CDs that they're working on for here and back in Australia doesn't do well…then I'm going to lose my company."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **I hope you guys liked the chapter.

Ugh, guys, I'm having so much trouble finding the will power to finish this story. I already have the last two chapters (and a couple other chapters) written out and I want to get there, but the middle is just sucking so bad and it quickly moved away from my first idea of the story. It was supposed to be mostly about friendship (which is my forte to making a good story, but it's now all about romance drama and I can't find a way to fix it).

So, with 11 chapters left until the story is over I'm either to going to...

-Update very slowly so I can finish it. (But work on/upload other stories)

-Stop it here and upload the chapters that I have finished as deleted scenes

-Force myself to finish the story in the next couple of days (which will probably come out as crap)

-Just leave it discontinued here (and still upload the chapters I've finished) which I really don't want to do, but might.

I hate discontinuing stories, but sometimes it's the way that things are supposed to go. If I do discontinue it, I promise that I'll see all of my other stories through and that I won't discontinue them, because I hate disappointing people. Also, Racy's date as well as Riley and Kendall at the Santa Monica pier and some other ideas will (most likely) be made deleted scenes that will be up soon as well as the deleted scene from 'So Much Has Changed'.

Cheers,

-Riles


	20. Boys

**.:Chapter Twenty – Boys:.**

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><p>WayneWayne rolled his eyes as he held his phone in his hands, playing Temple Run on his iPod, slouched sideways in a chair. He looked up and watched as Camille continued to move around her bedroom, holding clothes up to herself before tossing them aside. He had stopped listening to her blather on and on about her upcoming date with Logan about an hour ago. At this point he was wondering if she even noticed that he had continuously switched from playing on his iPhone to texting Dak, to blatantly staring at the ceiling for extended periods of time.<p>

In fact, he hadn't said a word since he had gotten there.

"What do you think about _this _one?" Camille turned to WayneWayne, holding onto a light blue baby doll dress.

WayneWayne tilted his head towards her, his hands behind his head. He was silent for a few moments before speaking. "Why are you asking me this?" He asked, closing his eyes once more. "Why don't you get one of the girls to help you?"

"Because out of you I'd get an honest answer." Camille replied patiently. "Rather than the false hope that I look good in just about everything." She tossed the dress aside and stood in front of her mirror, pulling her hair up off the nape of her neck.

"You'd get an honest opinion out of Riles, Rhubes, or Steph." WayneWayne pointed out. "Since they're tomboys and everything."

"Yeah, well," Camille sighed as she dropped her hair and turned to WayneWayne, flopping down on her bed. "You can't really talk to Riley without her snapping at you about something," WayneWayne gave her a look. "More than usual," she added and then rested her chin in her hand. "And I don't want to talk to Rhu, she seems to be mad at me about something and….well, I don't know, things are weird with us."

"Oh gee, I wonder why." WayneWayne muttered as he rolled his eyes as he turned back to his phone.

Camille scrunched her face up in confusion before she glared over at her best friend. "What's that supposed to mean? You know," she pushed himself up so she was sitting on her knees. "You're starting to act as badly as she is, ever since I started going out with Logan. I thought you were happy for me."

WayneWayne slowly put down his phone. "I thought I was too." He replied quietly. He looked away from her before turning his head to look at her. "I thought I would be happy that you were finally with the guy that you liked, being able to see you smile all the time, but I'm not." He shrugged. "If anything, it just made things even more irritating than they already are." Camille stayed silent, taking in his words and he spoke up again. "Personally, I don't even see why you like him. You don't have anything in common, all he can talk about is math or what he used to do back in Texas, and he thinks that doing homework is _fun_!"

"But he's so sweet and always willing to help someone if he needs it," Camille defended her boyfriend. "He wouldn't go along with Kendall's plans if it wasn't to help someone."

"You don't even know anything about him!" WayneWayne rolled around in the chair until he was sitting up and looking directly at Camille. "You don't know what he wanted to grow up to be when he was a kid, you don't know how he got some of his scars, and you don't even know whether or not he was a c-section baby!" He threw his hands up into the air, leaning back in his seat. He held a hand over his mouth, drumming the armrest of the chair with his other hand.

"I don't even see why you care who I do and don't date!" Camille finally blurted out. She then looked confused as she turned away. "Wow, those words _definitely _sound familiar!" She said after a few seconds of thinking.

"And why do you think that Logan cares so much about Rhu dating Dak when he doesn't seem to care that Kendall and James are fighting over Riley?" WayneWayne leaned forward in his seat, lowering his voice, his eyes burning into hers. "Everyone knows that you know the answer to the question, but you're too invested in wanting to keep him as your boyfriend that you can't see that it's hurting the both of you."

"Shut up," Camille turned her head away. "You don't know what you're talking about."

"You _know_ that he likes Rhuben," WayneWayne continued. "And that he can't get over his crush on her."

"Then why did he agree to go out with me?" Camille asked quietly, squeezing her eyes shut.

"Because he didn't want to hurt your feelings and because he wanted to try," WayneWayne said gently. He licked his lips. "Look, the last thing that I want to do is hurt you-"

"Too late," Camille squeezed her eyes tighter together.

"But you knew that it was the truth," WayneWayne continued. "Even though you would have rather not have thought about it." He stood up, moving his phone into his pocket. "Just so you know, I didn't just say this to hurt you; I said it because I cared and because I didn't want you to get hurt later on." He tilted his head to the side as she continued to look away from him. "And I would rather that not happen than for you to hate me later on when you see that I was right."

"Get out." Camille muttered, grabbing her pillow and flopping on her side, her back to him.

"Alright," WayneWayne turned and grabbed his coat off of the ground, holding it under his arm. "I'll talk to you later if you're up to it." He hesitated for a moment before leaving the apartment, pulling his jacket over his shoulders. Leaving the PalmWoods, he realized that he didn't want to go home and drove to Dak's house. As he pulled into the driveway, he looked up to see the front door open and Dak and Rhuben walk out onto the porch.

WayneWayne smiled to himself as he climbed out of the car, closing the door and locking it with a push of a button on his key ring. He shoved his hands into the pockets of his jacket and scuffed his shoe against the ground, giving Dak and Rhuben some time to say goodbye. He smiled a little as he looked at them out of the corner of his eye as Dak kissed her gently.

"Hey Dude!" Dak called a few moments later, causing WayneWayne to turn around and walked up the porch steps to meet them. "I didn't know that you were coming over."

"I was in the area," WayneWayne shrugged before reaching out and hitting him on the arm. "I didn't think I needed to call to make sure it was fine if I came by." He rolled his eyes as Dak reached out and hit him back. "That reminds me, Rhubes, do you mind helping me film my next video project. I have the story written out already and I getting some money for the project from this online site called Kickstarter." He said.

Rhuben thought for a moment. "I do photography, not video," she reminded him gently, patting him on the forearm. WayneWayne's eyebrows rose when he felt how cold her hand was through the layer of his jacket. "You might want to ask Steph for help." She shrugged. "But I wouldn't mind helping, maybe I can take some test shots for lighting or something, it sounds like it would be fun." She gave him a tired smile.

"Are you alright?" WayneWayne asked, lowering his voice.

"'Course," Rhuben shrugged again. "Why?"

"Well, you just look really tired and you must be cold if you're wearing a sweatshirt when it's _this_ hot out." WayneWayne continued.

"Yeah, well," Rhuben rolled her neck. "You'd be as tired as I am if your sisters were keeping you up at all hours of the night screaming their heads off after watching almost every scary movie in existence." She shook her head. "And I'm used to it being hotter in Australia, so…" she trailed off before turning back to Dak and giving him a light peck on the lips. "Bye, I'll see you guys later, I have to get to the studio to work on the guys' routines and everything."

"Later,"

"Bye."

The two boys watched as Rhuben got into her car and drove away before they went into the house, closing the door behind them. "So things seem to be going well with you and Rhu." WayneWayne commented.

"Yeah," Dak replied with a nod and a half smile. "But she seems to be kind of distant lately," he shook his head. "I don't know, I can't put my finger on it, but I know that something's up. Of course she wouldn't tell me if there was and when I ask Riley she says she doesn't know which is quite possible." He added as he walked into the den and flopped down onto the couch. "So, you look annoyed, what's up?"

"I got into a fight with Camille," WayneWayne replied as he sat down on the other side of the couch. "I was trying to tell her how I felt, but I basically just made her upset." He sighed. "Which _clearly _wasn't my goal."

"Clearly." Dak agreed.

"But whatever," WayneWayne shrugged. "If she doesn't realize that her being with Logan is hurting her more than helping her, it's no skin off my nose." He lifted himself up in his seat before looking around. "Lizzie isn't home is she?"

"No," Dak shook his head. "She's out with some friends from her school." He gave WayneWayne a curious look. "Why?"

"Because I found this in Camille's room," WayneWayne reached into the pocket of his jacket and pulled out a small, thin, white object. He held it up into Dak's face. He could see by his raised eyebrows and the way that his jaw suddenly tightened that he knew exactly what it was. "And with things being the way that they are at the moment, I've suddenly got an urge to try it out." He held his hand out so Dak could take it. "You want to try?"

* * *

><p>Jo's skin crawled as she felt Jett's hand slide up and down her arm. But she couldn't say anything. If she tried, he would hurt her, like he did last time. Jo slowly stretched her arms, feeling her back and sides ache, knowing that the bruises were just as bad as they were that morning. She lifted her head and looked around as the table reading continued. It seemed that no one else knew what was going on and that's just what made everything worse.<p>

"Relax," Jett whispered as he moved his hands up to her shoulders and gripped them painfully. "Relax; you don't want anyone to think that we're having a fight." He leaned forward and sniffed her neck. "Mmm, you're wearing that perfume that I like thanks."

Jo shook her head, leaning away from him, trying to keep the disgust from showing on her face. But it was hard, she had never wanted to hit someone as much as she wanted to hit Jett, but it was unprofessional, not when she got the part on the show. Besides, Jett had threatened her time and time again that he would ruin her career if she said anything about what was going on.

"So I think that this would be a good angle for the show," Jett spoke up, speaking to everyone in the room. He turned to the producers and motioned between himself and Jo. "Our characters on the show dating and us dating in real life. It would raise the rating and definitely bring in more fans."

Jo's eyes widened before narrowing in anger. She shoved Jett away from her before leaping out of her seat, grabbing her purse, and hurrying out of the room. It didn't take long for Jett to come up behind her and painfully grab her arm, turning her and throwing her into the wall before pinning her shoulders there. Her aching muscles and bruises screamed with pain, but she kept her mouth shut, only whimpering quietly.

"What do you think you're doing?" He demanded. "You're making a fool out of me in there!"

"You're only doing this for the show!" Jo accused, glaring back at him. "You just want to be on a big success show."

"Well, of course," Jett snorted a laugh. "You don't think Jett would actually be attracted to someone like _you_ do you?"

Enraged, Jo kneed Jett in the stomach before starting to run away from him. She looked over her shoulder to see him clutch his stomach, trying to regain his breath. As she raced out of the front doors of the building, she saw him starting to race after her. Jo's heart jumped into her throat as she started to run down the street, pushing people out of her way, not caring if they shouted at her or if she actually knocked them down. Running in her heels, she knew that Jett could catch up to her quickly, so she was trying to get as far away as possible as well as getting as many obstacles in his way.

Jo risked another glance over her shoulder as soon as she was a few blocks away from where she started running and tripped, hitting the ground hard. She winced as she looked at her knee, seeing that it had skinned open and a little blood was trickling out.

"Joey, are you ok?" Jo looked up to see Sydney hurrying over to her. He grabbed onto her hands and helped her to her feet. "Are you ok?" He repeated before inspecting your knee. "You should get that cleaned up before you get infected." He took a step back and tilted his head back to look at her. "Who are you running from?"

"What are you doing here?" Jo shot back. Sydney raised an eyebrow and pointed up; Jo followed his gaze and smiled a little when she found that she was outside of Blazing Phoenix Records. "That's ironic." She muttered to herself. She turned back to Sydney. "I'm not running from anyone." She said and looked over her shoulder again.

"I might be 10, but I'm not stupid." Sydney replied as he crossed his arms over his chest. "Trust me; I have a lot of experience of running away from people to recognize it." His eyebrows lowered. "Does this have to do with Jett?" He noted her stunned expression. "I just took an educated guess; you've been acting funny since we met him at the club. What's going on?"

Jo took a deep breath, moving her hair from her face. Her lower lip trembled and tears came to her eyes as she tried to figure out whether or not she could say it. But she's been holding it in for so long, she didn't know if she could take it anymore. "Jett's been…harassing me since that day. At the club, he said something really derogatory towards me and since then…" she sniffed. "He's been…kissing me when I don't want it…he's been hurting me….he's been calling me at all hours of the day. I keep telling him to stop, but he won't!"

Anger flashed over Sydney's face and his gaze moved to right behind Jo. She turned around and let out a gasp when she spotted Jett slowing down from a sprint, glaring at her.

"WHAT DO YOUTHINK YOU'RE DOING?" Jett screamed at her. He pointed behind her. "Get back in there and apologize! You're ruining _everything_ you bitch!" He seemed to not have noticed Sydney as he was glaring hard at Jo. When she didn't move fast enough for him, he moved forward and grabbed onto her shoulders, starting to shake her. "ARE YOU DEAF? Can you not hear me you fucking cunt!"

Sydney moved to the side and reached up, tapping Jett on the shoulder. "Excuse me," he started calmly. "But that's not how you treat a lady." Jett stopped shaking Jo and shoved her away from him, knocking her to the ground before turning to Sydney.

"Who asked you, you little twerp?" He demanded.

Sydney smiled slowly before stomping onto Jett's foot. Jett let out a cry of pain and bent down to grab his foot. Sydney then took the chance to swing his right foot forward and kick Jett between the legs and then pulled back his right first before punching Jett across the face, knocking him onto the ground. Sydney let out a quiet curse as he shook out his hand before turning to Jo and helping her off of the ground. Before they knew it, security guards from inside Blazing Phoenix Records had raced outside and grabbed onto Jett before going over to Jo and Sydney to get an explanation on what had happened.

Even Ronan had come out to talk to them after he had been alerted by the security guards. He crossed his arms over his chest as he looked down at Jo with sympathy. "If this was going on, you could have talked to me or Mrs. Knight about it," he said gently. "I know it must have been hard for you, but we would have liked to be able to try and help you."

"I know," Jo shook her head. "I was just…too scared to say anything and I thought that you guys would think of me differently if I said what was going on and that I wasn't stopping it."

"We wouldn't have thought that," Sydney spoke up, shaking his head as well. His big eyes sparkled. "I mean, you didn't think that when you found out that we went so long without telling people about what was going on with us. In one way, it shows a sense of courage."

"But in another it shows that you felt that you were totally alone, which wasn't the case." Ronan continued. "You have friends that will always be around to help you, so you shouldn't ever feel like you don't have anyone to help you with your problems."

Sydney nodded.

"Thanks Ronan," Jo smiled back at him before turning to Sydney. "And thanks, Syd." She gave him a hug. "You're an amazing friend, you know that?"

"It's what I'm here for." Sydney replied with a smile, his dimples appearing in his cheeks.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **So, since there are only 10 chapters left after this one is finished, I'm going to try my hardest to finish it. Now, I'm not saying I'm going to update it every day, but it'll be done in early-mid July, especially with my other stories coming. Thanks so much for giving me the help to finish it. I can't guarantee I'll tie up every loose end in a really good way though; some might come out of nowhere as time will jump between chapters, and I'm apologizing in advance for that.

Also, I'm not exactly bashing the Lomille pairing here, since I don't like it much, I just think that James/Camille and WayneWayne/Camille are more realistic, which is why Lomille never really lasts for long in my fics, unless it's a Lomille centered fic or my characters aren't in it.

Thanks again, and I'll update again soon.

Cheers,

-Riles


	21. No Brains

**.:Chapter Twenty-One – No Brains:.**

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><p>Logan sighed as he rested his chin in his hands, staring at the notebook that was in front of him. "How can writing songs be so easy for Kendall but so hard for me?" He murmured, lightly shaking his head. "I mean, you just write about how you feel, and that's what I'm doing, but it's not helping me in the slightest."<p>

He jumped at the sound of a knock on the door and quickly flipped his notebook shut, shoving it underneath his pillow. He straightened his bed before darting his eyes over to the door. "Uh, who is it?" He called.

"Camille," She called back. There was a lengthy pause. "Can I come in?"

"Sure," Logan replied and got up from his bed, taking a quick stock of his room, wincing when he saw how messy Kendall's was (and probably would always be). He took a breath before reaching out and grabbing onto the doorknob, pulling it open. "Hey Camille, what's u…"Logan trailed off as he got a good look at Camille.

Instead of her normal, girly look, she was dressed in black from head to do. A black jacket, a black tank top, a black studded belt, tight black jeans, and black shoes. But that didn't complete the look, her dark brown hair was styled so that it fell into her face and she was wearing black eye shadow, black eyeliner, and dark lip-gloss. She smirked at Logan as he continued to stare at her, her smirk growing wider as the seconds ticked by without him making a sound.

"So?" Camille pushed by Logan and walked into his room, turning around to face him as he slowly closed the door behind them. "What do you think?" She placed her hands on her hips. "How do I look?" She tilted her head to the side. "And don't think that I can't tell when you're lying."

"Uh," Logan slowly turned around to face her. He licked his lips, not sure what to say. His eyebrows rose when he noticed her stance. "You're wearing a lot of black." He finally managed to say. He made a face. "Are you doing another role? Do you have another audition you're going to?"

"Nope," Camille shook her head. "I had a role for a TV show that was going to take me back to Connecticut, but I turned it down." She gave a blasé wave of her hand. "It wasn't worth my time and why would I want to leave my friends?"

"But if it was the role of a lifetime, why would you-"

"And I didn't want to leave my boyfriend!" Camille interrupted Logan. She crossed the room to him until they were almost standing nose to nose and she gave a little pout. "You don't want me to take it and leave you, do you?"

"I-"Logan shook his head and grabbed onto his face with his hands. He wasn't sure what was going on, but it was starting to scare him. Camille never acted this way he she wasn't out of character. Wearing black wasn't her style and she was never really a mysterious person in the first place, always showing what she was feeling and how she was feeling as soon as she felt it. Logan took a few calming breaths, trying to make sense of everything, but it just made him even more confused.

"Logie-Bear," Camille moved his hands from his face and looked hard at him. "You didn't answer my question." She prompted. She took in Logan's blank expression and spoke slowly as she repeated it. "What do you think?" She motioned to her clothes.

Logan sucked his lips into his mouth, not sure what to say. But Camille could practically see every thought run through his head. She gave a sigh as she turned and walked away from him, moving her hair from her face. She wiped off the eye-shadow, only managing to succeed in smudging it around her face. She turned back around to look at Logan, a look of sadness in her eyes.

"It's not me, right?" She guessed.

"Well," Logan looked her up and down once more. "Not exactly," he agreed. "But I mean, you kid of blindsided me with it," he shrugged. "So maybe I just have to get used to it." He continued to look at her as she quietly tried to wipe the smudging make-up off of her face. _What's going on? _He asked himself as he watched her. _I don't think that I've ever seen her like this before, something must be up. _"Camille, is something wrong?"

Camille looked out the bedroom window down to the PalmWoods pool, watching as the kids below splashed around in the pool, happy and so carefree.

"I talked to WayneWayne yesterday," she said quietly. "And he really opened my eyes about something." She looked Logan right in the eye. "You like Rhuben, not me. You didn't want to hurt my feelings, especially since you knew how much I like you, and you decided to go out with me to try and forget her. But it didn't work." She motioned to her clothes. "So I had to see for sure, which one of us you really liked, and while you do have feelings for me, it can't compete with the history that you two share." She smiled a little as she slowly shook her head. "Nothing can ever beat history, right?"

Logan gave a half smile. While she was directly speaking of having history with someone, he also knew that she was referring to his somewhat obsession with school work as well as the fact that he could spout off random facts with little to no thought at all.

His smile faded as he looked away from her. "You don't hate me, do you?"

"That depends," Camille replied with a teasing lift to her voice. "Would you hate me for leaving you for _my_ best friend?"

Logan shook his head. "No, it's like you said, you can't beat history." He looked at her again. "Can I at least have a hug to know that there's no hard feelings between us?"

"Of course," Camille moved forward and wrapped her arms around Logan's neck and hugged him tightly. "Besides, I could never hate you."

"That's good to know," Logan replied as he hugged her back. "Because your slaps are pretty hard as it is, if you hated me, I think you would actually be able to get away with killing me."

Camille laughed.

* * *

><p>When Stephanie woke up mid-afternoon, after having stayed up the night before on a shoot, she left her room to find a few plastic red cups on the ground. She was a bit alarmed, but didn't completely fly off the handle. She had been out all night working on a set to help a friend from the PalmWoods School with a short film and went straight to her room when she had gotten home. It was possible that her father had had some friends over, but at the same time, it was very unlikely. Letting out a short sigh, she moved around, starting to pick up the cups, noticing that her father was gone.<p>

Making her way into the kitchen, she was only slightly surprised to find someone asleep on the counter. Her frustration turned to full blown anger when she recognized Carlos lying on the counter, his arms dangling from the sides. Lowering her gaze, she noticed a wine bottle on the floor and her anger then turned to disgust. As much as she would have liked to deny it, she knew that Carlos was having drinking problems. Ever since she finally opened up to him about all of the hate she had been getting online, he had started to wake up later and later with a hangover that he was barely able to conceal. Stephanie was sure that Mama Knight knew about it, but wasn't sure how to talk to him about it. She was also sure that the other boys were covering for him, if they weren't too busy with their own problems. So she was the one that had to take care of him each time he came to her apartment in a drunken stupor.

_It's amazing that dad hasn't said anything about him yet. _Stephanie thought to herself as she shook her head, dumping the plastic cups into the trashcan. _I guess he thinks that I can take care of it. Or it just hasn't hit him yet._

Stephanie reached out and shoved Carlos on the arm, but he just made a grunting sound in reply, slowly rolling onto his other side.

Stephanie crossed her arms over her chest. "Move," When that didn't wake him up, she used both hands to shove him off of the counter and onto the floor.

Carlos shot awake (at least as fast as a teenage boy with a hangover could). His bloodshot eyes turned towards her and he grunted again.

For a moment, Stephanie felt bad for him. But when she got a whiff of his breath, and took in his all too familiar position, she knew that he didn't deserve it. Reaching around him, she grabbed a cup and walked over to the sink. Turning the faucet on, she stuck the cup under the water, quickly filling it, before turning around and splashing the water over him. Carlos sat up and then groaned, holding his head in his hands. She then filled the cup once more and turned the faucet off, handing him the cup of water to drink. Carlos quickly drank all of the water, letting go of the cup and burping loudly.

The loud burp caused him to wince and hold his head in his hands. "Thanks, Steph" he whispered, "I needed that."

_It's not the only thing that you need. _Stephanie nodded in reply. "Can you get the fuck off of my floor?" She asked. It came out with more bite than she intended, but she was far past caring at this point.

"Oh. Sorry." He didn't move. She mustered up the best glare she could manage, and stared at him for as long as I could hold it. It still didn't work. "I'm sorry, Steph."

Stephanie tried again. "Please get out? I don't want to talk right now." He continued to look at her with his large, sad eyes. "Can you get the fuck out of here? Please?"

"Steph," Carlos whispered again. "I'm sorry for everything." Stephanie listened quietly, knowing that he wasn't finished, that he wanted to say what was on his mind. "I'm sorry for all of the hate that you're getting, I'm sorry for not being able to protect you like I want, I'm sorry that I don't spend as much time with you that you want because of the band, I'm sorry that you're getting the short end of the stick in our relationship." He paused. "I'm sorry I haven't introduced you to my parents yet." He seemed confused as he said the last part.

Stephanie was confused herself. They had never even talked about meeting each other's parents; sure, they had been dating the longest out of anyone at the PalmWoods, as they had been dating since the dance, a little over a year ago. He knew her father, since she lived with him in the PalmWoods. But he didn't know her brother or her mother; she didn't plan on taking him home with her for another year if not longer. So why did he bring it up now?

"You must be so ashamed of me," Carlos spoke up again, his voice still quiet. Stephanie moved to sit by him and he winced and jerked his head to the side as she dropped the cup to the floor. "Ouch," he leaned forward, pressing his forehead against his knees.

"I could _never _be ashamed of you, Carlos," Stephanie murmured as she rested her head against his shoulder. "But I'm really angry with you; I don't see why you started drinking, and I'm tired of having to take care of you and make excuses for you when something goes wrong because you're drunk."

"I know." Carlos said.

"No, you _don't_ know." Stephanie shook her head. "I haven't been able to do anything besides work, because I've had to be around just in case I needed to stop you from hurting yourself." She lifted her head. "I've had to cover for you _each and every _time that someone asked what was wrong with you."

"The guys don't care," Carlos shook his head. "They haven't said anything, the Jacksons either, they've been avoiding me."

"Carlos, why do you _think_ they've been avoiding you?" Stephanie insisted. "When you're drunk, they can't be around you or it brings up too many memories. Especially after you promised you wouldn't do it again." She pulled at her hair. "At least you didn't push me down again."

Carlos made another groaning sound, keeping his eyes closed. The two sat in silence for a while, just listening to each other breathe deeply. It was one of the few moments that they had gotten alone since the boys had started to work on their second CD, and they were going to make every minute of it last as long as possible. Carlos wrapped his arms around Stephanie's shoulders, holding onto her tightly.

"Carlos, promise me that you won't do this again?" Stephanie whispered. "I want you to be sober when we're hanging out with our friends. I don't want to give dad any reason to hate you." She nuzzled closer to his side. "I want things to go back to normal with all of us," she shook her head. "Even if it's one piece of drama at a time." She chuckled lightly, wrapping her hand around Carlos'. "Promise?"

"I promise." Carlos replied, kissing her on the head. "Trust me, I don't like feeling like this." He slowly opened his eyes. "And I'm tired of the taste of puke." He made a face.

Stephanie laughed as she lifted her head. "Way to ruin a mood." She looked at Carlos and he managed a smile through a grimace, holding onto the sides of his head. "Sorry," she apologized, giving him a kiss on the cheek.

"Yeah," Carlos nodded. "I am too."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **I think that the way that I had Camille and Logan break up was kind of weird and a little rushed, but I hope that you guys liked it. And I needed to show more about Carlos and Stephanie, so here it is. I know you guys would have liked to see instances of Carlos being drunk/drinking, but with so many things to get done with a few chapters left, it didn't need to/couldn't be shown.

Only 9 chapters left and still a few more story lines to tie up.

Cheers,

-Riles


	22. Time Of Our Life

**.:Chapter Twenty-Two – Time Of Our Life:.**

* * *

><p>"Logan, are you ok?" James asked as he rested his hand on his friend's shoulder. He and Logan were standing outside of Ronan's apartment. Logan was holding onto a CD player and a set of headphones in his hands, loosening and tightening his grip on it over and over again, leaving his sweat-filled fingerprints on it. "I thought you were just returning Rhu's CD player."<p>

"I am," Logan replied with a short nod.

"We're going to be late to the studio if you don't ring the doorbell then," James reminded him. Logan nodded once more, but didn't move from his spot. "Are you sure you're ok? You're so pale you look like you've seen a ghost."

"No, it's not that," Logan swallowed thickly and turned so he was looking at his friend. "Uh, you know that song that I just finished writing?" He asked, James nodded slowly, waving a hand for Logan to continue. "Yeah, well, I know that I showed you guys the lyrics, but I recorded it myself, so I could hear what it would sound like before I gave it to Gustavo to hear for the rest of you guys to put your vocals on it too."

"So?" James asked. Logan made a face, annoyed at how James wasn't getting it as quickly as he wanted and James held his hands up defensively. "Sorry, you're not making any sense here, so you wrote and recorded the song, so what? It's not like we're not excited to hear it or anything."

Logan sighed, realizing that he was going to have to completely spell it out for his friend.

"Ok, I wrote this song…about Rhu." He said quietly.

James continued to look at him, still not getting it. All of a sudden his face cleared and his mouth dropped open. "Oh," he said and then his eyes widened even further. "Ohhhhh." Logan moved his mouth into a grim line as James moved his hair out of his face. "So that's why you broke up with Camille. Oh, ok, now I get what the CD player thing is for. You want her to listen to it." Logan raised and lowered his shoulders. "Ok, so, what's the problem, why am I here?"

"You're here, in case things go downhill." Logan replied. "Because Carlos would just keep laughing at me, making me nervous, and Kendall…well, he seems to be having his own problems lately and I wouldn't want him to be around _trying_ to make things better when his plans always seem to make things worse."

"But things won't go downhill," James replied confidently. "At least, I won't exactly be around to see it when you crash and burn."

"What?" Logan asked. "Why?"

"Because I'm going to be down the hall and around the corner!" With that, James leapt forward, knocked on the apartment door, and took off running down the hallway, disappearing down the corner quickly as Logan stood in the hallway, his mouth wide open in shock.

"Hey!" Logan called after him. "Some friend you are!"

"Is there any reason why you're standing in our doorway screaming at no one?" Sydney asked as he poked his head outside of the door, looking up at Logan with a confused look on his face. His big blue eyes were dancing with amusement.

"Uh," Logan whipped back around and smiled down at Sydney. "Not really." He rubbed the back of his neck. "I'm just in a weird mood today. Is your sister home?"

"Which one?" Sydney asked, tilted his head to the side. "Don't you have to be at the studio soon? Gustavo's going to blow his cap, you know." He suddenly pointed at Logan's hand. "What's that? Can I see?" He reached for it and Logan pulled the CD player back out of his grip.

"You ask too many questions, you know that?" Logan asked, raising an eyebrow.

"It's the only way that I'm going to learn," Sydney shrugged. He flipped his dark hair out his face. "So you didn't answer my questions, which one are you looking for?" He gave a sly smile. "Actually, I don't even know why I'm asking." He turned in the doorway, his hand still on the door and tilted his head back. "RHU-RHU," He yelled at the top of his lungs, causing Logan to jump. "LOGAN'S HERE FOR YA!" He turned back around and gave Logan a wide smile. "She'll be out in a minute." He closed the door and Logan could hear his footsteps moving away from the door.

_So this gives you time to run, _Logan thought to himself, running a hand through his hair. _You should get out of here while you have the chance. But…you really want to do this, so don't back down now. You're taking a risk and that's what you have to do to get what you want._

"Yeah?" Logan turned to see Rhuben standing in the doorway, giving him a strange look. "What are you doing here?"

"You seem surprised," Logan gave her a fleeting smile.

"Well, we've been doing nothing but fighting for the past couple of weeks so," Rhuben shrugged before moving her strand of her purple hair out of her face, lighting tugging at her ponytail. "What do you want? We have to get to the studio and get some work done," her eyes flicked over him. "You know, before we help you and everything."

"Yeah, well, I finished writing a song." Logan said, drumming his fingers on the CD player.

"Oh?"

"Mhm, and I…wanted you to be the first to listen to it." Logan held out the CD player and Rhuben hesitantly took it. "Besides, I needed to return your CD player anyway, so I figured why not kill two birds with one stone?"

"Thanks," Rhuben took the CD player and tapped it against her hand. "I was wondering when I was going to get this back from you," She looked him in the eye. "So this song that you're telling me about…what's it about? How'd you get the idea for it?"

"Just, listen to it and then find me later so you can tell me what you think?" Logan asked, rubbing his hands together. "Like, right after you listen to it, I really want to know your opinion on it." He licked his lips. "It's important. You'll get it once you hear it."

"Fine," Rhuben nodded and moved to grab the doorknob to go back inside. She stopped when she noticed that Logan hadn't moved. "Was there something else that you needed?"

_Do it now before you lose the nerve. _Logan thought to himself and then nodded, taking a deep breath. "Yeah," he took a step forward. "One thing, just…hold still?"

"Logan, what's-"

Logan took her chin into his hand so that she would look into his eyes. He looked right at her before closing his eyes and leaning forward. He gently kissed her. It was a light kiss, a little more firm than a simple brush of the lips, but nothing to scare her. Just for her to know how he felt. His face burned when he opened his eyes and pulled away. Time seemed to slow down as he lightly licked his lips.

He waited for her reaction, but she was good at being apathetic, not showing any of her emotions until she wanted them to be seen.

"Listen to the song and then call me or whatever, ok?" Logan asked. "I won't bring it up during rehearsal or whatever, because I know that you guys like to keep things at work professional and to leave baggage at the door. Just do this for me, please?"

"Fine," Rhuben took a step back and closed the door on him.

Logan let out the breath that he was holding and headed back down the hallway, where James had disappeared. Logan looked down at his friend, who was sitting on the floor, messing with his phone. He grinned and leapt to his feet when he spotted Logan.

"So?" He asked eagerly. "How'd it go?"

"Good, I hope." Logan replied. "Let's get to the studio before Gustavo beats our faces in."

* * *

><p>"Hey," Dak greeted, looking a little surprised when he opened the door, finding Rhuben standing on the porch. "I thought that you had to work at the studio today?" He stepped back to allow her to come inside.<p>

"I do," Rhuben replied as she walked towards the den. "But I told Ronan that I was going to be a bit late."

"Oh," Dak nodded. "By the way, have you noticed anything going on with Liz, lately?" He rubbed the back of his neck. "I mean, apart from the the fact that she's hardly been around because she's always out with Katie or whatever, she's been quieter than usual. Taking longer to get dressed in the morning….she's even been trying to get out of going to her school lately."

Rhuben shrugged, looking a bit concerned herself. "She hasn't said anything to me. But she might have said something to No," she looked thoughtful for a moment. "I'll ask him about it later, if he knows something, it wouldn't be hard to get it out of him."

"Thanks," Dak smiled. He watched as Rhuben shoved her hand into her drawstring bag and dug around for something, producing a CD player and a pair of headphones. She handed them over to him. "What's this?"

"A song," She replied after a moment. "Logan wrote it and he wanted me to listen to it, I heard it on the way here." she said for clarification when she noticed the confused look on Dak's face. "I wanted you to hear it so I could get your opinion on it."

"Alright," Dak followed her into the den and the two sat down on the couch. "Do you not like it or something?" He turned on the CD player and moved the headphones to his hands. "'Cause even though you guys critique them all the time, you usually like the songs that they come up with."

"Just listen to it." Rhuben instructed.

Dak shrugged and he put the headphones over his ears, turning up the volume on the CD player to listen to the song. _I'm lookin and you, yeah. You're lookin at me. Something about you's got me goin crazy. So what should I do? What can I say? She's beautiful, unusual, the prettiest thing._

It was weird. Rhuben shook her head as she rested her chin in her hand, waiting for Dak to finish listening to the CD. Logan had never given any other indication that he wanted to be more than friends. Except, well, the fact that he had kissed her. And boy, had he kissed her. Her stomach fluttered, just thinking about it.

Maybe he did want more.

But what did she really want?

"Well?" She asked when he pulled his headphones off of his ears.

"Well, what?" Dak replied as he pushed the CD aside. "It's pretty straightforward if you ask me," He turned to look at her, giving her a half smile. "He thinks you're the best thing on the dance floor." He snickered a little and Rhuben reached out, smacking him on the arm. "Hey, he said it, not me." His smile faded. "But like I said, it's pretty straightforward how he feels." He tilted his head. "The question is, how do _you_ feel?"

Rhuben stayed silent. It was all too complicated; there were too many feelings that were involved, too many people that could potentially get hurt. She never asked for any of this, she just wanted to be able to act like a normal teenager every now and then when she wasn't working on her music. If she knew that something like this would happen, she would have kicked herself in the head before even thinking about it.

"Ok, let me ask you this," Dak licked his lips as he thought for a minute. "If you got the best award that a dancer could get, who would you go to first, besides your family, to tell?" She continued to stay silent as she thought about it. "If you needed someone to look after your brother, who would you ask for help?" He took a breath. "Who can make you feel better the easiest when you're upset about something?"

Rhuben sighed and tilted her head back so it rested against the top of the couch. She slowly turned her gaze over to Dak. "Sorry." She whispered.

Dak shrugged. "No need to apologize, I said from the beginning that I wasn't looking for a committed relationship or anything." He shrugged again. "Besides, we're young, we're supposed to go out with a lot of people before we get married, it's not like it's going to kill anyone."

"You're way too understanding for your own good." Rhuben said to him.

"So I've been told." Dak smiled back.

Rhuben got up off of the couch, twisting her fingers. "Are you sure you're not upset?" She looked at her feet. "I mean, you spent so much time trying to go out with me and now."

"Let me tell you something," Dak got to his feet as well and placed his hands on Rhuben's shoulders. "When I first met you, I knew that I liked you. That was something that I couldn't deny. But at that time, I always knew that there was something or someone that you were holding onto from your past and it wasn't until I met Logan and the guys and then figured out that you used to be best friend with Logan that it was him that I was somewhat fighting your attention for. The thing is, I always knew that you were happier when he was around, I could always see it in your face. And I also knew, as soon as you guys had met up again, just by looking at your face, that your felings for him had resurfaced." He lightly tightened his grip to Rhuben's shoulders. "But I'm not mad. Sure, I'm a little bummed, but I always knew in time, that you were going to ultimately go to Logan. I'm just glad that you gave me the chance when I had one."

"I feel like a jerk." Rhuben muttered. She crossed her arms over her chest, still looking at her feet. She couldn't look him in the eye, it would just make things worse.

"Don't," Dak gave another smile. "You're an amazing person and anyone that you end up with is goddamn lucky to have you. I'm always going to be around when you need it and I'm always going to be around to talk." He pulled her into a gentle hug. "Plus, I'm sure that Lizz would have a conniption if you guys stopped coming around."

"Wouldn't it be awkward?" Rhuben asked.

"Was it awkward whenever my old girlfriend was around?" Dak asked. Rhuben gave a light laugh and shook her head. "I didn't think so. I'm not a very jealous person, and I don't hate Logan, he's my friend, even if he doesn't think so, so things will be fine." He let go and took a step back. "C'mon," he grabbed his keys from his pocket. "I'll drive you to the studio."

"But I drove myself here." She reminded him.

"I know, but this may be the last time that you get to be the passenger when it comes to driving, instead of having to chauffeur your brothers around all the time." He waved his keys. "You might as well jump on it when you have the chance, I might not offer it again."

"Yeah, right." Rhuben smirked.

"I know."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Sorry it's short. **Next chapter has more of the adults as well as more of Noah and Lizzie.

Cheers,

-Riles


	23. Things happen for a reason

**.:Chapter Twenty-Three – Things happen for a reason:.**

* * *

><p>"Sorry, did you want Lemonade or a Coke?" Noah asked as he poked his head out of the kitchen, looking over at Lizzie who was sitting on the couch, looking at a magazine. He sighed when he noticed that she was staring hard at the pages, her head down. Crossing the room, his bare feet slapped against the hardwood floors. When he reached the couch, he learned over the arm and snatched the magazine off of her lap and held it above his head.<p>

"No, give that back!" Lizzie said as she got to her feet and started to jump up and down, trying to reach it. Noah stayed quiet as he continued to hold it over his head, moving his eyes along with her up and down movements. "I'm just looking at the pictures." He moved the magazine behind his back and took a step back as she moved towards him, still staying silent. "You can't possibly think that I'm going to…" her voice trailed off as Noah continued to look at her. "You do, don't you?" She crossed her arms over her chest and pouted. "Fine, keep the stupid magazine."

Noah smiled and pulled it out from behind his back, keeping it tightly in his fist as he moved to toss it onto the coffee table. He turned around when he heard Ronan's footsteps heading his way.

"You know, it's really funny to watch you talk to him without him actually talking to you." He commented with a smile towards Lizzie.

She gave a smile in return. "Shouldn't you be used to it?"

"Not really," he shook his head. "Because he talks to me all the time."

"What's up?" Noah asked, causing Ronan to stick his tongue out at Lizzie, having his point by proven. "Aren't you supposed to be going out to lunch or whatever with Mama Knight?" He looked at his watch. "You're going to be late," he pointed out.

"Which tie?" Ronan held up a black one and a blue and white striped one. "I narrowed it down to these two and since I can't find Riles anywhere, well, you're the last one that I could ask." He shrugged, lowering his arms.

"Thanks," Noah deadpanned. "The others are outside getting inspiration for our next song, since we have to get it done faster than we anticipated. We wanted to hang out a bit before we went out to help."

"Yeah, that's nice. Tie?" Ronan held them up once more.

Noah thought for a moment, resting his chin on his hand before turning to Lizzie who was staring at the two ties. She looked over at Noah and smiled and he gave a small smile before turning back to Ronan. "The blue and white one." They said in unison.

"Thanks," Ronan disappeared back through the doorway to the foyer.

"Excuse me for a minute," Noah said and lightly patted Lizzie's knee before getting off of the couch and following his adoptive father. "Ronan?"

"You like the black one better, right?" Ronan asked, turning around, pausing in tying his tie.

Noah smiled as he shook his head. "No, it's not that. I just have something I need to ask you." He let out a soft sigh, crossing his arms over his chest as he looked down at his bare feet. "What do you do when you compliment someone and they never take it? Even when you're telling the truth?"

"Well, girls in general typically don't like to be compliment on something because, coincidentally, it's the part of themselves that they hate." Ronan replied as he finished tying his tie. He crossed his arms over his chest and leaned back against the wall. "So they never really believe it when someone says it to them," he lowered his eyebrows. "Obviously this has to do with Liz, does she not take _any_ compliment?"

"No," Noah shook his head and then smiled at the irony. "Not from Dak, not from any of the girls, not from me, Pat, or Syd, and you know that Syd and I don't lie." Ronan gave him a pointed stare and Noah shrugged. "Ok, I don't lie _much_, but not about anything like this."

"Well, my only piece of advice is that you confront her about it," Ronan said as he rubbed his chin. "And if that doesn't work, I don't know what to tell ya, I haven't been in that predicament before."

"Thanks anyway," Noah twisted his mouth to his side.

"Can I ask you something?" Ronan said after a minute of studying his son. He nodded in reply. "How come you waited so long to admit you were dating Lizzie? I mean, it seemed like it came out of nowhere."

"Well," Noah hesitated. "I wasn't sure what people would say. I mean, I've been teased enough for being so shy and everything. I guess…I didn't want it to happen again."

"You know it doesn't matter what other people think," Ronan reminded him gently. "It only matters what you think, and you like her, so it shouldn't be a problem." Noah tilted his head and gave him a pointed stare. "Yeah, cheesy, I know. I've been around you guys too much, I'm getting too sentimental.

"Have fun on your date." Noah said with a hint of sarcasm.

"Thanks." Ronan replied before slipping out the front door. "See you guys later."

Noah gave a sarcastic wave before turning and walking back into the kitchen to get the drinks that he meant to get before. He walked back out to the living room to see Lizzie sitting on the couch, her chin resting in her hands, looking glum.

"Do you want to go see what the others are doing?" Noah asked as he handed her a bottle of lemonade. "I think you need some of Patrick's stupidity or Syd's attention to cheer you up, 'cause I don't think I'm doing a good job."

"No, you're doing fine," Lizzie got to her feet and walked over to Noah, giving him a kiss on the cheek, causing him to blush. "I'm just being a Debbie Downer, but I _would_ like to hear your guys' new song." She grabbed onto his hand and raced out of the apartment, dragging him behind her.

* * *

><p>Kacy looked up from her menu as she heard the chair across from her get pulled back. She smiled, setting her menu down as Ronan sat down in the seat across from her, pressing his tie down against his chest.<p>

"Sorry I'm late," he apologized before leaning forward and giving her a kiss. Kacy accepted it eagerly, pressing her hand against his neck as she kissed him back. Ronan smiled against her lips before he pulled back. "Traffic."

"It's alright," Kacy replied, her cheeks a bit flushed. "I wasn't waiting long." She tucked her legs under her chair as she shifted the menu in her hand. "I have to admit though, you're such a laid back guy, I didn't expect you to take a place that's so….fancy."

"Yeah, I didn't know that it was until after I made the reservation," Ronan replied. "But a friend recommended it to me, so I thought that it would be fun." He flashed a bright smile, causing Kacy to laugh at his optimism. "So how was your day today?" He blinked as her phone rang and she ignored it. "You seem kind of tired."

"You'd be tired too if the boys woke you up early this morning playing hockey in the apartment." Kacy replied with a light laugh. "Don't get me wrong, I love them to death, but sometimes I don't think they know about being considerate of other people's feelings.

Her phone rang again.

"I'm guessing that Katie set them straight pretty quickly?"

"You'd win that bet."

Ronan looked down at her phone and then over at Kacy. She tried to ignore it the best that she could, but finally picked it up and looked at the screen. Ronan knew exactly who it was as soon as she saw the look of annoyance cloud her face.

Kacy let out a sigh and turned off her ringing phone, shoving it into her purse. She shoved her hair out of her face and drummed her fingers on the table. "I wish he would stop doing that."

"So block his number," Ronan pointed out, taking a sip of water. He wiped his mouth with his napkin. "That's the easiest way to get away from him."

"I can't." Kacy shook her head. "Because of Kendall and Katie…it's complicated." She twirled a chunk of her red hair around her finger, looking down at the table.

Ronan studied her, not sure what to say. Part of him wanted to explain how he knew how she felt, but he wasn't sure if he wanted to drop the bomb like that at a time like this. But the other part of him felt immensely annoyed. If her ex-husband wanted nothing to do with her and her family before, why was he starting to contact them now? Especially when things were starting to go so well between the two of them. Their kids seemed to be fine with their dating, but who knows what they were really thinking.

"You're not over your ex-husband," Ronan said slowly. "Are you?"

"What?" Kacy asked, her eyes widening slightly.

"It makes sense," Ronan leaned back in his seat, keeping his eyes away from hers, afraid of what he would see. "The only reason you allow him to keep coming back into your lives if because you're not over him. It's obvious that Kendall and Katie don't want him around, or they would have said something by now. I'm not saying that I want to take over his place to be their father or whatever, but I think that them having me and Gustavo around is all that they need at this point." He licked his lips and finally looked at Katie. "But it seems that you're always wondering what would have happened if he hadn't left, and it makes me feel like you're not really into the two of us being together."

"So what does that mean?" Kacy asked, her eyes narrowing. "I could tell you over and over that I _am_ over my ex, but I know you won't believe me." She shook her head. "I don't know why he's calling me, but I've been ignoring him this whole time."

"Are you sure that Kendall and Katie don't know about it?" Ronan asked suddenly. Kacy gave him a confused look. "They came to the studio for the first time a while back and Kendall was acting really strange, quieter than usual, I think he saw a call or a text from Kevin."

"If he does know, then I'm not going to say anything until he comes to talk to me about it," Kacy replied. She held her face in her hands. "Oh, I don't know. This is making me all so confused and upset." She reached out and grabbed onto Ronan's hand. "I like _you_, you know that. But things were bound to be complicated considering the fact that I'm divorced. I admit that I may want to keep him closer, in case he does want to be part of Kendall's and Katie's lives again, but he's not going to be a part of mine."

Ronan looked unconvinced. He looked down at Kacy's hand and then turned his over so he could hold onto it. "Listen, I want this to work, but if your husband _does_ come back around, I'm going to give you guys some space so you can work whatever it is, out."

Kacy nodded, looking a bit disappointed. She went to say something, but was cut off by Ronan's phone ringing. He pulled it out of his pocket and, noticing that it was Kelly, quickly answered.

"What?" Kacy asked, noticing Ronan's expression quickly change. She waited until he hung up the phone before asking again. "What is it, what's wrong?"

"Gustavo's father passed away." Ronan replied.

* * *

><p>Gustavo sat in his desk chair, looking out the window that overlooked LA. He could see everyone down below going along their business, as if they didn't have a care in the world. They were lucky. But, in some ways, he was lucky too. His father had died, so what? It wasn't like he was that close to him anyway. His father probably forgot he had a son half of the time as it was.<p>

He didn't get any phone calls on his birthday, didn't visit his family for Christmas, even his mother rarely called, unless there was some scandal in the magazines that he needed to sort out so their name wouldn't be tarnished.

"And so you go and change your attitude when the old man finally kicks the bucket, huh?" Gustavo muttered to himself, placing his hands on his stomach.

"Gustavo?"

Gustavo turned his chair enough so that he could see Ronan, Kacy, Kelly, Kendall, Logan, Carlos, James, and the Jacksons standing in his office. He looked at each of them. Kacy and Big Time Rush looked like they didn't know what to do or what to say. The Jacksons, on the other hand, looked like they knew what Gustavo was thinking, that he didn't want any of them to be there.

He didn't want their pity.

He didn't want their empathy.

He just wanted to be left alone.

"We're sorry about what happened." Carlos said quietly, wringing his hands together. His eyes kept daring around the office; it was obvious that he didn't know what to do or what to say. He hadn't been in that position before. Lucky him.

"I'm not," Gustavo said quietly, tuning back around so the back of his chair was facing them. "Not really anyway."

"Do you want us to come to the funeral with you?" Ronan offered. "It would probably be better if you had a support group there for you. You know that we'd do anything that we can to help you when you need it." The Jacksons gave quiet sounds of agreement.

Gustavo realized it must be because he was trying to keep his own kids from feeling bad or upset, trying not to think of their own parents. _They're lucky in a way, even though it hurts, at least they didn't have to deal with the pain now. At least he's offering; Ronan's a good guy that way. _Gustavo shifted in his seat. Not that he'd ever admit that out loud.

"We can't imagine what you're going through, but like Ronan said, we're willing to help you in any way that you need it." Kacy said with a nod.

"That's great, but Kelly and I went to the funeral this morning." Gustavo replied, still looking out the window. He could practically sense Kelly rubbing at her arms in silent discomfort. "My dad was sick with cancer for a while, so my mom got the funeral arrangements done quickly, just in case we needed them at a quick notice." He snorted. "It's probably the only thing that she paid attention to.

_"Why am I doing this?" Gustavo muttered. Kelly sighed as she straightened the sleeves of his sports coat before looking up at him._

_"Because he was your father." Kelly reminded him gently._

_Gustavo pulled away from her and stood in front of the mirror, tying his tie. What does that mean to me? He wanted to ask. But that would only start another argument. Kelly was close to her family and she knew how Gustavo's family was, they clashed over it every now and then, but the two of them knew that he was always welcome at her family gatherings._

_"You're a great friend, you know that?" Gustavo asked, turning back to her._

"_I've known that for years," Kelly replied, placing her hands on her hips. "Even when you didn't say it out loud." She reached out and lightly hit him on the arm. "No, do you want me to drive or to call the driver?"_

"_Call the driver."_

…

_.._

_._

_The large, ornate church was packed. He spotted his mother quickly, holding onto a brave face although others around him weren't afraid to show their tears. James wanted to quickly move by his mother and take a seat, but he knew she would spot him before he could risk it, so he straightened his posture and took a step towards her. As he predicted it, his mother spotted him as soon as he moved and immediately headed over to him._

_"Gustavo!" she cried shrilly. _

_He repressed the urge to roll his eyes. "Hello, Mother," he greeted her coldly and bent down so she could peck his cheek._

_"I'm so glad you're here," she said loudly._

_Kelly sighed. The facades that everyone was putting on were already starting to grind at her nerves. She wouldn't say that she hated his family; she just hated the way that they treated him. It was no wonder that he turned out the way that he did. It always came back to the way that people are treated by their family to see how they are in present time._

_Gustavo faked a smile. _

_His mind wandered, he couldn't even stand to think about how all of those people had the wrong idea about his father. He wondered what Mr. Rocque had even told him about Gustavo when he moved out and started to work in the music business. That he fell off the face of the earth, no doubt. Maybe he said that he had died because of diabetes, having gotten too big, having eaten too much. That was something that they had fought about a lot; his weight. Gustavo found comfort from the lack of his parents' attention in food and over the years as he continued to eat more and more, his father's disapproving looks and snarky remarks weren't missed._

_"Gustavo," Kelly whispered and nudged his arm, getting his attention. "Put the rose on the casket." _

_Gustavo stood up and walked over to the casket that was in front of him. He placed the second rose on top, the other being from his mother, and then placed his hand on the lid, slowly rubbing it. As he ran his hand along it, a small splinter sliced his palm. _

_Gustavo shook out his palm as he turned from the casket, watching the blood appear on his hand. It wasn't supposed to be there, he wasn't supposed to have cut himself on the casket. If anything, he wasn't even supposed to be there, his father probably didn't even want him to know that he had passed away._

_"What am I doing here?" Gustavo didn't realize that he had asked the question out loud until he noticed everyone looking at him._

_Kelly shook her head._

_Gustavo turned and walked up the aisle, away from the casket, away from his family, away from his father, away from it all. He could hear Kelly's footsteps racing after him as he walked out of the church, filled with guilty relief._

"It must have been hard for you, Gustavo." Logan cleared his throat.

"You said that already." Gustavo reminded him. "Listen, I don't need your guys' sympathy, if it's alright with you, I'd rather not even talk about it. Act like it didn't happen." He tightened his grip on the arms of his chair. "I don't need to focus on this, anyway, I have to focus on your guys' music and your CD. You have a few more songs to write and it needs to be done as soon as possible."

"But Gustavo," Kendall protested, taking a step forward. Riley reached out and grabbed onto his arm tightly. Kendall looked down at her and she shook her head, lightly pulling him back, keeping her eyes on Gustavo's chair. Kendall looked over at his mother and she turned to him with sad eyes, but she shook her head as well. It wasn't the time, he wanted what he wanted and what Gustavo didn't want was anyone worrying about him.

"Well," James anxiously rubbed his neck. "I guess we'll just leave you alone."

They all turned and started out of the room.

"Dogs," Gustavo grabbed their attention, causing them to turn back around. Gustavo turned around in his chair until he faced them completely. He leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms over his chest. "Thanks."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: I'm not sure how Gustavo would actually react to a family member dying, so I just had it that he didn't really react to it in the slightest, just being quiet and aloof. 7 chapters left.**

**Cheers,**

**-Riles**


	24. Superstar

**.:Chapter Twenty-Four – Superstar:.**

* * *

><p>"So are you guys going to be working on songs or what?" Katie asked from where she was sitting at the counter in apartment 2J, watching as Kendall, Logan, Carlos, and James straightened up the apartment the best they could. "I mean, they haven't really been around here much…" her voice trailed off when she noticed Carlos wince and she fell silent.<p>

She knew that his drinking was what caused their friends to draw even further away from them than they already were and that he was beating himself up over it. She also knew that part of it was about Logan telling Rhuben his feelings for her that kept her away as well. They hadn't come over to the apartment much just to hang out ever since those things happened, but they acted professionally whenever they had to be around the guys. If they didn't, they wouldn't be paid and they would be released from their contracts with Rocque Records, and no matter how upset they got with the guys, they were too good friends to let that happen.

"Yeah, I guess," Logan said as he rubbed the side of his neck. "I mean, what with Gustavo not talking to us much since his Dad died, we need to get these songs done as soon as possible. The deadline of the album is coming up _really_ fast and we know that they can help us."

"Plus, it'll be good to have a night where we don't do anything but have fun with each other," James added, flopping down onto the couch, his long legs dangling to the floor. "I mean, there's been _nothing _but drama around us for a while and I'm ready to have at least a _little_ bit of fun." He sat up as there was a double-knock at the door. Unlike most times where the Jacksons would just barge in after knocking, they stayed outside. "Guess things aren't going to go back to normal as fast as we thought." He said out loud.

"Guess not." Kendall agreed, making no move to get the door.

"I'll get it then," Logan said as he held up his hands, rolling his eyes. "No one jump for it at the same time." He let out a breath and walked over to the front door, aware that his heart was beating faster than usual. _Weird, I've __never__ been nervous around them before, and they're my friends._ Logan grabbed the doorknob and opened the door. "Hey." He greeted with a smile, his eyes quickly moving over to Rhuben.

"Hi," Sydney gave a shy smile and a wave.

"Come in," Logan took a step back and allowed them to go inside before he closed the door behind him. "We're glad that you guys could come, we have the song clips and our notebook and everything ready." He rubbed his neck again. "Mama Knight wanted to give us time to get this done so she went to the gym for a while."

"Seems to me she and Ronan are still having a disagreement." Riley said, her eyebrows rising a little bit. She shrugged. "We're glad to be here, I guess." Her eyes moved over to Carlos and he gave a fleeting smile.

"There's plenty of food if you want something to eat." Carlos said and then turned, holding up a bag of chips, swinging it back and forth. "There's like, 8- different kinds here, just in case you didn't want a specific kind that you got." He smiled at Rhuben. "Like, your favorite is Sour Cream and Onion," he turned and grabbed another bag, shaking it harder. "We got that1"

"Cool," Patrick nodded before heading over to the orange couch, greeting his friends and his girlfriend along the way.

"Rhu," Logan closed the door behind the five of them, getting Rhuben's attention. She slowly turned to face him, her hands in her back pockets. "Did…did you listen to the song that I recorded?" She nodded. "And?" He asked hopefully. "What do you think?" He took a step forward and held onto her wrist. "I won't rush you or anything, I just think that…that we can be really good together. I care about you, a lot, I mean, why wouldn't I? You're my best friend." He gave a nervous laugh as she continued to look at him. "I wasn't sure if I wanted to tell you, because it might ruin our friendship, and I don't want it to and I hope you don't either."

"You're rambling." Rhuben pointed out. "And you're being indecisive, which you only do when you're nervous."

"Can you blame me?" Logan asked.

"I could," Rhuben stated, bobbing her head to the side. "But that wouldn't be fair." She gave a tiny smile before her face cleared any emotion. "Yeah, I heard your song." She said quietly and then added. "Dak and I broke up."

Logan tried not to let his happiness show. "Really?" She nodded. "So…what does that mean?"

"Just…" Rhuben thought for a moment, pushing her hair out of her face. "Right now, let's focus on this song that you guys need to get done…give me some time, alright?"

"Alright." Logan agreed. "But…" he looked afraid to ask the next question. "Are we cool?"

"Yeah," Rhuben nodded. "We're cool." She turned and walked over to the couch, sitting down in between James and Carlos, before leaning over and taking off her shoes.

"Cool" Logan nodded to himself as he slowly followed her. He sat down in his seat, picking up his notebook. _It's better than nothing._

A wave of silence filled the room. It was beyond strange, for any of them, nothing had ever made them this awkward around each other. Not even when the guys would go on dates, not when they had followed James on one of his dates and watched him make-out with some random girl in the mall, not when they found out that Ronan and Mrs. Knight were dating, not even when Gustavo and Robert (when he was still the Jacksons' foster father) had screamed at each other about who would 'cave' first about their rule of 'no romantic entanglements' between the two bands. Things had definitely started to change between them if none of them were saying anything.

Sydney kicked his legs back and forth, his feet not reaching the ground as he sat on the couch, looking around at everyone, a frown of disappointment on his face. Katie caught his eye and frowned as well.

She let out a huff and placed her hands on her hips. "So, say something!" She demanded. "We're all friends here, why would a couple of things that happened change things now!"

Obviously she didn't' get what it was like growing up as a teenager these days, especially when your life was always put out into the open within a second. It made everyone second guess themselves about what they were doing and how they reacted to things pretty quickly. It changed friendships and it made things weird. Katie always thought that they would be able to transcend that, not to let it affect them at all, but maybe she was wrong.

Maybe Hollywood _did _change people in one way or another.

"Well you can tell by the way I use my walk, I'm a cheese balls man, no time to talk," Patrick sang as he leaned over the table and grabbed a large bag of Cheese Balls. The silence was too deafening and he needed to do something to loosen everyone up "Whether you're a brother or whether you're a mother, you gotta love cheese balls, gotta love cheese balls." He started to tug at the top of the bag, letting out a small grunt as the bag refused to open. "Ah, ah, ah, ah, get in my belly, cheese balls get in there. Ah, ah, ah, ah, stayin alive." He grinned as the bag finally popped open. "Yeah!"

"Nice one, Pat!" Carlos laughed and the two high-fived as the others cracked smiles and chuckled to themselves. It broke the tension and slowly everyone could feel themselves loosening up once more.

"Thank you, thank you," Patrick gave a few fake bows as Noah leaned over and dug his hand into the bag. "So, let's hear this sound clip that you have." He brought his knees up and grabbed onto a blank notebook and held it against his lap. "You have any lyrics yet?"

"Not yet," Kendall said as he shook his head, picking up his laptop and moving through a few sound files on his computer. "But it has a really catchy beat, so we think that it has the potential to be a single, but of course we need Gustavo's opinion on it."

"How's Gustavo doing by the way?" Sydney asked. "I doubt he's doing so well, he obviously didn't have a good relationship with his father if he didn't seem too worked up about the funeral." He continued to explain as everyone else looked at him quietly. "I mean, he didn't invite Ronan or Mama Knight to the funeral, and they're his best friends. If it was something big, they would have gone. He didn't act like himself when we went to visit him in his office, he didn't yell at the guys _once_. He even thanked them for caring. That's not Gustavo at all. Plus, there was the fact that he had a faraway look in his eyes when he was looking out his office window, which means that he was mentally somewhere else, trying to _keep_ from thinking about him." He shrugged. "So they were either estranged or his dad really _was_ a jerk."

"Syd," James looked dumbfounded. "Seriously, how are you able to be that smart?"

"Because." Sydney gave a modest shrug. "Most people forget that I'm in the room sometimes, and that gives me a chance to observe. The only way that you can truly be smart is if you ask a lot of questions and watch a lot."

"Seriously, Handsome, if you try to get into it, you're just going to make your head hurt." Riley said, turning her head to him. "We wouldn't want that to happen or all of your pretty little hair would fall out of your head."

James let out one of his famous mini-screams, his hands flying to the ends of his hair.

Noah laughed quietly, flipping his hair out of his face. "Can we hear the song now, Kendall?" He was twirling a pencil in his hands, a look of concentration on his face.

"Yeah, sure," Kendall smiled as he pressed PLAY on his laptop and moved it to the center of the floor, turning the volume up all the way so everyone could hear it. He bobbed his head to the music, listening to it for about the 5th time since he had gotten it.

He looked at the Jacksons' faces as they listened. They were all screwed up into expressions of intense concentration. That was something that he liked about them, they were extremely serious and devoted when it came to music, their own or their friends' music and they would try to make it the best as they possibly could.

_How did we ever let all of that drama get in the way of our friendship? _Kendall thought to himself as the song continued towards the end. _We promised since we got here that we wouldn't let Hollywood change us. And as soon as we started working on our second CD, we let out heads get all tangled up with dating drama and arguments, and stupid things like that. We lost sight of why we decided to come out here and why they decided to help us in the first place. _He moved his face into his hands.

"Got the chorus," Sydney suddenly said, picking up a notebook and starting to scribble on it, his hand flying over the paper. The others waited for a moment as he finished and he then cleared his throat, lightly singing to himself as he read over his words. "You wanna wil out, then wil out. All eyes on you. It's going down, down, right now, you can't lose." He sang.

"That's _really _good Syd," Katie said with an appreciative nod.

"It flows with the beat of the music really well," Carlos agreed. "You definitely caught the tone of the song as well." He tapped his chin with his pencil. "But that seems like kind of a short chorus, don't you think?" He looked around at Kendall, Logan, and James. "It ends kind of abruptly.

"Do you have any ideas, CareBear?" Rhuben asked, her eyebrows rising. "I mean, it's your song, so you basically have complete free reign over the whole thing." She pointed over to her brother. "I mean, no offense to you Sydney, but you don't even have to use his part if you don't want to, we're just here to help."

"That's should stay there," Logan countered, shaking his head. "Like Carlos said, it really fits…it's just too short."

"Well," Kendall leaned forward and started to write out on his own notebook. "What if you repeated the first par again…?" He rested his elbows on his knees and sang out loud. "You wanna wil out, then wil out, that's what you do. Talk of the town now and you already know…" he trailed off, frowning before letting out a light laugh.

"What's so funny?" Patrick asked, blowing his hair out of his face as he wrote down with Sydney and Kendall had come up with, trying to keep things in order.

"Nothing," Kendall shook his head lightly. "It's just…kind of ironic."

"Care to enlighten us?" James asked.

"Irony," Sydney piped up. "A rhetorical device, literary technique, or situation in which there is a sharp incongruity or discordance that goes beyond the simple and evident intention of words or actions." He smiled proudly.

James turned to Logan.

"Basically it's something that you don't want to happen, and then in turn, you end up doing it." Logan explained. He turned to Kendall. "What's ironic?"

"The lyrics," Kendall shook his head. "Basically, the ones that I just came up with, wiling out as well as becoming the talk of the town…that's basically us. We've been freaking out about our own problems and our relationship crap that we hadn't realized that we'd been pushing our friendship away. And instead of directly talking about our problems, we just complain to everyone else around us," he turned to James. "Or fight about them."

James gave a knowing smile and then bowed his head.

And just like that, the two had forgiven each other over their stupid fight.

"I'm sorry for everything guys." Carlos suddenly spoke up. He turned to the Jacksons. "I was so worried about keeping Stephanie happy after all of the hate that she was getting and I was letting the stress about making this CD perfect get to me that I started to drink. I know that it was a bad idea and I know that it was starting to scare you guys, but I couldn't stop." He shook his head. "You guys are some of my best friends and I don't want anything to jeopardize that. I'm really sorry."

"It's ok, Carlos." Noah said with a shrug. "Things happen, you get over it, you move on. We're just glad that you at least talked about it."

Rhuben looked over at Riley from across the couch and Riley looked back at her. The two stayed silent as they looked away from each other, something flashing over their faces that if anyone had seen it, they wouldn't have been able to guess what it was.

"You're forgiving me?" Carlos' eyes widened.

"Is that weird?" Sydney asked with a short laugh.

"Well, yeah," Katie shrugged, wrapping her arms around her knees. "You guys are really sensitive to the drinking thing; you avoided them for a week after the party…why is you so open to him apologizing now?" She tilted her head to the side, her green eyes narrowing with confusion.

"Uh," Riley tucked her hair behind her ears. "We know we don't say this a lot, but you guys are our best friends out here and we really appreciate everything that you do for us, trying to keep us comfortable and all that." She looked embarrassed. "You've proved to us that you're some people that we should keep around so…little mistakes like this shouldn't get in the way of our friendship."

Rhuben nodded in agreement.

Kendall, Logan, Carlos, and James smiled.

"Now that this love fest is over, let's get back to the song," Riley cleared her throat, obviously uncomfortable about the sharing of their feelings. She grabbed the bag of cheese balls from Patrick and took a handful before tossing it over to Rhuben, who just handed it to Carlos.

"You don't want any?" He asked as he took the bag.

"Nah," Rhuben shook her head. "I already ate before we got here, that way I wouldn't be focused on my stomach while we worked."

"Not like you should worry about it, Beautiful," James said with a smile and a wink. "Your six pack is sexy; I don't think any junk food is going to kill it anytime soon."

"Thanks, Handsome." Rhuben rolled her eyes.

"Oh, I got it," Logan lifted his head and turned to Kendall. "To finish the part that you were working on." He explained and then started to sing. "That you're a star, a superstar. That you're a star, a superstar. That you're a star, and you already know."

"That's good," Noah nodded, his arms still resting on his legs. "So you have the chorus down for the most part, what you really need to think about at this point are the verses and the hooks, just do you have an idea of what the song is going to sound like before you record it."

Carlos groaned. "That's the worst part."

"Hey, no one ever said this band thing was going to be easy." Katie reminded them. "But you did it with _This Is Our Someday_." She reminded them and then paused. "Which these guys helped with." She tapped her chin. "Oh, you did it with the song _Oh Yeah." _She frowned again. "But Gustavo's writers helped with that as well."

"Katie, stop _trying_ to help them." Sydney said. He laughed as James picked up a pillow and tossed it at him before tossing it back. He laughed harder as James moved out of the way and it hit Riley on the side of the head. "Oops, sorry Ri-Ri."

"Its fine," Riley said through gritted teeth before grabbing the pillow and heaving it to the floor. "Can we just finish this please?"

"Relax, would you?" Kendall leaned back on his arms, resting his hands on the ground behind him. "We're just trying to have a bit of fun, to keep this entertaining while we work on the song." He shook his hair form his face. "No one said that we had to be so serious all the time."

"Well excuse me, Kendall, for wanting to help you guys," Riley got up from the couch, stretching as she went. "Is there any popcorn?"

"In the cabinet by the sink, Landy." Logan called, pointing with his pencil.

"Thanks Logie."

Kendall rolled his neck and turned to Rhuben. "How could I have possibly annoyed her in the two second that I asked her a question?" He asked her. Rhuben shrugged and gave a smirk.

"It's just the way she is," she explained. "Just be glad that she didn't decide to smack you with the pillow instead. She did that to me once and accidentally scratched my eye." She twirled some of her hair around her finger as she turned back to her own notebook. "_How about this for part of a verse? Oh no, it's on tonight and here we go. You're looking brighter now you know. So go ahead and let it go go go..._ "

"I like that, Rhu, nice job." Noah said with a smile. "It could probably tie into a hook more than another verse, like, make a verse short, a hook long, to balance out the chorus."

"Good idea."

Kendall rolled to his feet and walked over to the kitchen as Riley waited for the microwave to finish cooking the popcorn. She looked lost as she glanced around the many cabinets, as if looking for something. Kendall's eyebrows furrowed together as he watched her for a few moments. It seemed like she was a bit more worried than looking for a bowl. Her hand was up to her mouth and she was chewing on a fingernail, her eyebrows lowered.

"The bowls are in the cabinet up there," Kendall pointed, causing her to jump. She moved over and grabbed a bowl from the cabinet, moving it to the counter as she waited for the timer to finish. Her hands moved to her sides, her fingers fluttering. "Are you ok?"

"Fine." She replied quickly. "Why?"

"You just seem kind of…" Kendall searched for the right word to say. "Well, I'm not sure exactly." Riley jerked open the door of the microwave when the timer dinged. She pulled so hard that Kendall thought that the door would break off into her hand. "But you're not acting like you usually are. And you haven't been for a while."

"So?" Riley busied herself with pouring popcorn into the bowl.

"So nothing." Kendall defended himself. "I just noticed it."

"Why does it even matter?" Riley asked, lifting her head to look at him, her eyes flashing. Kendall lost his nerve for a moment, but he forced himself to continued with the conversation.

"Well," Kendall shrugged. "I care about you." He looked at Riley, who looked away for a moment.

"That's fine, I guess," She finally said. "But I don't need it. I already have enough people to care and I don't need anymore!" She picked up the bowl of popcorn. "Now if you would please get out of my way." She started to move by him.

"I just can't help but notice that you've been acting funny," Kendall continued, blocking her way. "I mean, I always knew that you were an impulsive person, but it's been getting out of hand lately. You're also even shorter tempered than usual; you've screamed at people at the pool so many times that Bitters has enforced a new 'no yelling rule'." Kendall rolled his eyes lightly at Bitters' constant implementation of rules; it had been going on ever since he and his friends had gotten to LA. "I have to walk on egg-shells around you because I don't know what'll set you off and you've been so distracted lately."

"Thanks Dad." Riley sassed.

"I just want you to know that if something was bothering you, that you can tell me." Kendall insisted.

"That's a laugh," Riley moved Kendall's arm aside and walked by him, going back to the couch with the others. She sat down by James and placed the bowl of popcorn onto the table. He gave her a curious look before looking over at Kendall, who shrugged back.

"It's not a good idea to bottle things up," Kendall said low enough so that only Riley could hear as he took his place on the floor.

Riley's hands clenched into fists before she opened them again, her fingers fluttering. She closed her eyes for a brief moment before turning away, being sure to keep her gaze away from him. "Don't tell me what I can and can't do." She murmured and then paused. "But thanks, Eyebrows."

Kendall smiled. "No problem."

He let out a grunt as a couch cushion suddenly went flying towards him and hit him in the head, knocking him onto his back on the floor. He sat up and watched as Rhuben and Logan hurriedly moved to pull cushions and pillows off of the couch. Sydney and Carlos were coming out of the boys' rooms, holding onto blankets and pillows as well.

"Kendall move, Patrick and James are going to see who's stronger with a wrestling match!" Katie declared, lifting Kendall's elbows with some difficulty. "I'm betting five dollars that James wins."

"Oh, thanks." Patrick rolled his eyes at his girlfriend.

"We're supposed to be writing a song, remember?" Kendall reminded them.

"Who says that you can't take a break every once in a while?" Sydney asked, kneeling down next to him, his big blue eyes wide with excitement. "It's not good to force a song out and who knows; maybe this will give us some inspiration apart from it being fun." His dimples appeared in his cheeks.

"If you say so," Kendall sighed. "I call next."

* * *

><p>Mrs. Knight sighed and dried off her neck after a long workout at the gym. She placed her towel around her neck as she stepped out of the elevator and reached for her purse as she moved towards her apartment. She glanced at her phone and felt a surge of slight annoyance when she spotted her phone and saw that she had no calls or texts from Ronan. Things had significantly slowed down with them after they had gotten into a short fight over her ex-husband.<p>

Mrs. Knight grabbed her keys and continued towards the apartment, silently bracing herself for the inevitable mess or fight that she would see as soon as she stepped inside. But she was pleasantly surprised to see BTR, DE, and Katie talking and laughing with each other like nothing had been going on between them at all.

_I guess they finally made up after all of their fights. _Mrs. Knight thought as she closed the door behind her. _I liked the peace and quiet, but things were too weird without them around. _She turned back from the door as she heard Katie call her name.

"Yes, what is it?" She asked.

"Mom, you _have_ to hear the song that they came up with." Katie said her eyes wide. "This song will _definitely _put them on the map of becoming rich and famous! _DEFINITELY!_"

"Katie," Mrs. Knight said in a warning tone, causing Katie to roll her eyes.

"But really, Mama Knight, it's good." Carlos could hardly contain his excitement. "Do you want to hear it? It's co-written by both of our bands, but they said that we could use it. But they're going to get the credit for it in our CD thank you's and everything."

"They're going to be singing it with us, too." Logan added.

"Sure," Mrs. Knight let out a slight sigh, letting everything sink in. "I'd love to hear it."

"Sweet," James leaned over and pressed PLAY on Kendall's laptop, allowing the music to start playing. He lightly snapped his fingers to the beat of the song. "Oh no, it's on tonight and here we go.

"You're looking brighter now you know," Patrick came in, his arms crossed over his chest. "So go ahead and let it go go go... go."

"You're shining like a star, I wanna be where you are, are," Logan sang, keeping one hand by his side and the other moving with the beat of the song. It was his normal singing stance, before he got really into it. "Oh no, oh no."

"Let's take over this club," Rhuben jumped in, moving her hair from her face and giving Mrs. Knight a bit of a shy smile. "You're shining bright in the dark, dark. You light up the night."

"You wanna wil out, then wil out, all eyes on you." Big Time Rush sang, grinning at each other. The chorus was definitely their favorite part of the song. "It's going down, down, right now, you can't lose. You wanna wil out, then wil out, that's what you do. Talk of the town now, and you already know that you're a star. A superstar. That you're a star. A superstar. That you're a star. A superstar. That you're a star. And you already know."

"It's time," Riley sang, lightly bobbing her head to the side. "I love this feeling can't we rewind." She turned and tilted her head up, looking at Kendall who was standing next to her as he started to sing.

"To the beginning of this crazy night." He leaned over and ruffled Katie's hair. "So, baby, we can let it go, go, go. Hey-ey-ey."

"You're shining like a star, I wanna be where you are, are Oh no, oh no." Rhuben sang, switching parts with Logan.

"Let's take over this club; you're shining bright in the dark, dark. You light up the night." Logan closed his eyes as she put a little more power into the last part of his line.

"You wanna wil out, then wil out, all eyes on you." The DarkElements took over singing the song this time, their voices blending with the song pretty quickly. "It's going down, down, right now, you can't lose. You wanna wil out, then wil out, that's what you do. Talk of the town now, and you already know that you're a star. A superstar. That you're a star. And you already know."

"Forget the moon, ignore the sky." Carlos placed a hand on his chest as he lowered his voice, keeping his voice light and airy as he sang. "'Cause the whole world is all yours tonight. Get it girl, it's your time. Shine until the morning light."

"The light," Sydney sang with as much emotion that he could put into it. "The morning light, oh. 'Cause you're the star. A superstar." He blended in with the others' voices as both bands sang the chorus at the end.

"_You wanna wil out, then wil out, all eyes on you. It's going down, down, right now, you can't lose. You wanna wil out, then wil out, that's what you do. Talk of the town now, and you already know that you're a star. A superstar. That you're a star. A superstar. That you're a star. A superstar. That you're a star. And you already know."_

"I love it," Mrs. Knight said as she clapped as soon as the song ended. "It's definitely one of your best. I'm guessing it's going to be called Superstar?" She said as she placed her purse down onto the kitchen table.

"Yep, and it's a collab between Big Time Rush and the DarkElements so both bands own it." Carlos agreed. "We think that our fans are really going to like that we worked on it together."

"If it's anything like your guys' friendship, then it's going to be great." Mrs. Knight said with a proud smile.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **Sorry for the long wait of updating. It didn't seem that much happened, but I thought that it was a good idea to have a light-hearted/friendship chapter somewhere amidst the drama.

Cheers,

-Riles


	25. You're Not Alone

**.:Chapter Twenty-Five – You're Not Alone:.**

* * *

><p>Mrs. Knight hurried from her room, breezing past the boys that were sitting on the couch, as well as Katie who looked like she was getting ready to go out as the phone continued to ring. "Don't hang up, don't hang up." She said under her breath as she reached the phone.<p>

It let out another shrill peal as she grabbed it and lifted it to her ear.

"Hello?" She shot Kendall a disapproving glance over her shoulder when she spotted him and his friends sitting on the couch, watching TV. She moved the phone to her shoulder. "Why didn't you pick up?" She asked in a loud whisper.

"Don't even bother mom," Katie stated, shaking her head as she hitched her purse up over her shoulder. "Once they're in 'the zone' you can't get them out of it."

Mrs. Knight turned her glance to her daughter. "And how come _you_ didn't answer the phone? You heard it ringing, didn't you?"

"Sorry, mom," Katie quickly walked towards the door. "I can't hear you."

"Right," Mrs. Knight rolled her eyes as he put the phone back to her ear. "Yes, this is Kacy Knight." She placed a hand on her hip as she listened. "Oh my," she placed a hand to her chest. "What happened?" Katie paused at the door as Mrs. Knight turned and reached for a pad of paper off of the counter and started to write on it. "Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center? Got it, thanks." She hung up the phone.

"Mom, what happened?" Katie asked, walking over to her mother. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed the guys getting off of the couch and walking over to them as well. "Who's at the hospital?"

"Ronan is," Mrs. Knight replied as she looked around for her purse. Kendall walked over to the coat rack that was by the door and picked it up. "Apparently he was working out at the gym with Gustavo and he hurt his knee. It looks like he needs to get some surgery done." She turned and smiled as Kendall handed her her purse. "Thanks, sweetie."

"Wait," James looked alarmed. "What about the Jacksons, are they ok?"

"I'm sure they're fine," Mrs. Knight replied distractedly, searching her purse for her keys. "Why?"

"They hate hospitals, Mama Knight," James shook his head. "They might be freaking out. Let us go with you. I want to make sure that they're ok."

"Yeah, we can't leave them there without them knowing that we're here to support them." Logan agreed. "Plus, it's been proven that people get better when they're happy. Ronan knows that the Jacksons would be worried while he's in the hospital. If we went too, maybe we can ease their anxiety and make Ronan feel better."

"Alright," Mrs. Knight replied after a second. "Let's get in the car and go."

When BTR, Mrs. Knight, and Katie got to the hospital, they quickly found Ronan's room as Gustavo was standing outside of it, talking loudly to a doctor that looked scared. Jo, Camille, Stephanie, Dak, WayneWayne, and Lizzie were waiting outside of the room as well.

They all smiled when they saw their friends approaching. "Ronan's fine," Jo announced as they got close enough. Mrs. Knight walked over to Gustavo and tried to calm him down. "Apparently he tore some cartilage, but he's fine, otherwise."

"That's good to hear." Kendall ran a hand through his hair. "Have they been here long?"

"A couple of hours or so," Camille replied. "We only got the call a half hour ago," she motioned to herself, Jo, and Camille. "But we were already out, so it didn't take long to get here. Dak and WayneWayne were already here when we got here though."

"Where have you guys been?" Carlos as Dak and WayneWayne, who were standing along with their friends. "You haven't been around lately." His eyes narrowed when he saw WayneWayne's eyes continuously darting back and forth, and wincing at every slight sound as if it was too loud for him to bear. Lizzie shook her head and looked away, looking annoyed at him.

"We've been busy," Dak replied with a shrug. "I've had a lot of rehearsals to do…things kind of got in the way." He turned his head to look at the four boys. "Kind of sucks what happened to Ronan, I mean, it seems like we can't really do anything without something big happening too." He gave a short laugh. "Bt I guess that's what happens when all of us are around, there's bound to be some drama somehow."

"What does that mean?" Stephanie asked, tilting her head to the side. "What could anyone have possibly done that could cause this karma?" She waved her hand towards Ronan's hospital room. "I mean, he was playing a game of soccer and fell over, hurting his knee, it's nothing."

"I don't know," WayneWayne's eyes shifted to the side. "I was just thinking out loud. What have you guys been up to, we haven't hung out in a while."

"We can hang out later today," Kendall offered. "After we're done at Rocque Records of course, we just finished out next song and were going to let Gustavo listen to it before we got the call that Ronan was in the hospital."

"How're the Jacksons doing?" Katie asked the question that was on everyone's minds.

They all knew that hospitals and doctors' offices made them really nervous really fast. From their lack of trust of getting better as well as constantly having to lie to those that were trying to help them when they were getting abused. It was partially traumatic any time they had to go visit one.

"Are you ok?" James watched Dak and WayneWayne for a few moments. "You look sort of….giddy."

"Maybe-"

"It's because they're high!" Lizzie snapped. Everyone turned to look at her as Dak and WayneWayne didn't seem to notice that she had even said anything. "They've been smoking marijuana recently. Apparently," she turned to Camille. "They got it from _you_!"

"Why would Camille have pot?" Jo laughed. "I mean, she can be a bit high strung and impulsive and over the top and-"

"I think they got the point." Stephanie interrupted. She turned to Lizzie. "But she has a point, why would Camille do pot?"

"Can _Camille_ answer this question?" Logan spoke up. "I mean, she _is_ standing right here. She can hear us." He turned to Camille who looked like a deer in headlights. "Did Dak and WayneWayne get the pot from you?"

"Yes." She replied after a moment.

"Told ya!" Lizzie declared.

"But I didn't use it," Camille said quietly, as all eyes had turned to her. "You know that part that I tried out for a while ago?" She widened her eyes at Logan, silently telling him not to mention that she was going to have to move. He nodded in reply. "Well, after my audition, the casting director had given it to me. I had it in my room, meaning to throw it away, but I never got around to it." She turned to Dak and her boyfriend. "I just didn't think that they would use it."

"Dude, its stress." WayneWayne shrugged. "It makes people do crazy things.

"Not enough stress in the _world_ could make anyone do that." Katie insisted, her upper lip curling with disgust. She turned to Lizzie. "You knew about this and you didn't tell me?" She asked.

"It's my family's business, why should I have to tell you?" Lizzie replied. She bobbed her head to the side. "I didn't know what to do, so I kept it a secret." She looked around at everyone. "It's Hollywood, weird things happen."

"But we need to make a pact right now," Kendall said firmly. "Just like the one that the four of us made when we first got here. We're not going to let Hollywood change us anymore. It had before but that's because we weren't relying on all of our friends to help us get through our problems." He turned to Dak and WayneWayne. "You've gotta promise not to do this again." He added. "If you have the feeling of doing it, then let us know."

Logan shook his head. "If they only smoked it a few times, then they aren't addicted to it, they'll be fine."

"I'm tired of having to constantly go to the gym to work off of my binges too." WayneWayne added as he grimaced, rubbing his stomach.

"Next time you need to go to the gym, take me and I'll whip your ass into shape." Stephanie said and then poked James in the side. "It'll be a tag-team effort; we'll run them into the ground."

"How is that your lame speeches always seems to get everybody into a good mood?" Dak asked Kendall, shaking his head. "You should become a public speaker; you definitely have some talent there."

"Yeah, if his teeth don't get knocked out first." Katie teased.

"Why do I have the feeling that we just missed some sort of bonding moment?" Sydney asked as he walked out of Ronan's hospital room with his siblings behind him. "Ronan's going to be fine," he said with a slight frown. "He has surgery scheduled for tomorrow, since they want to watch him overnight."

"Are _you _guys ok?" Mrs. Knight asked.

"We're fine." Rhuben said with a shrug. "So the apartment is going to be quiet for tonight, so what?" She looked around at everyone. "But thanks for you guys coming out to support him. It means a lot."

"You're our friends," Stephanie moved over and gave her a light hug. "Why _wouldn't_ we come out and support him?"

"Thanks." Noah said again. He turned to Gustavo. "He said that you can leave, he doesn't want you to start harassing the staff."

"These people don't have a good amount of people skills." Gustavo grunted. "But if that's what he wants, then let's get out of here." He turned around and seemed to just notice Mrs. Knight, Kendall, Logan, Carlos, and James were there as well. "Dogs, you have that song for me?" He asked.

"Way to show that you care about your friend." Mrs. Knight said as she rolled her eyes.

"Oh, don't worry about your boyfriend, Kacy," Gustavo said as he slapped her on the back. "He doesn't care if people are around to wish him well. He doesn't like the attention. If you keep worrying, you're just going to stress yourself out. And there's no way to get rid of stress than listening to a new song from your son!"

"Is it just me or is he acting weirder than usual?" Riley murmured out of the side of her mouth.

"He must still be reeling from his father's death, either that or his brain finally cracked with the anticipation of the second CD." Sydney whispered back.

"Not that there's much of a difference."

"Good one."

* * *

><p>"Well," Kendall clasped his hands together. "Before we start, I just wanted to say that I wrote this song for, you, Riles," her eyebrows rose as a weary expression slid onto her face. "Because I noticed that you've been kind of down lately and I thought that it would make you feel better. This song is called <em>You're Not Alone<em>." He waited as the backing track came through the speakers, adjusting his lyrics sheet on the music stand in front of him, and started singing.

"I bet you didn't notice, first time your heart was broken, he sang and then Logan came into the lyric with him. "You called me up and we talked til the morning." Logan stepped back from his microphone and Kendall started again. "And the time that you were stranded, I was there before you landed. He was a no show; I made sure you got home."

Logan started singing again, pressing his hands against his headphones so they were pushed against his ear further. "I've been right there, for every minute. This time, it's no different. Whatever happens you should know."

"That you're not alone, girl, look over your shoulder. You don't have to wonder." The four boys sang, their voices blending together easily. Kendall's held a little more power to it, making his the lead vocals on the song while the others harmonized with him. "Cause you know, you know, you know that you're not alone, girl. I'll be there to hold you, I'll stay til it's over."

"And you know, you know, you know." Carlos and Logan sang together.

"That you're not alone, that you're not alone." Kendall took a deep breath as he stared above the heads of his friends as they listened to their song. He willed himself not to look anyone in the face, knowing that it would cause him to lose his nerve and mess up. "All the days that you were stressed out, feeling like pulling your hair out. They were all missing but I was here listening. You gotta believe in me," he placed his hands on his chest, feeling his heart beating against his ribcage. "Even if you can't see me there, I'll catch you when you fall."

James stepped up his microphone, taking over the next line, and singing effortlessly. No matter what kind of a song it was, he was almost always able to blend into the tone and the mood of it with little to no problem. "Cause I'll be right there, for every minute. This time, it's no different. Whatever happens you should know."

"That you're not alone, girl, look over your shoulder. You don't have to wonder. Cause you know, you know, you know that you're not alone, girl. I'll be there to hold you. I'll stay til it's over. And you know, you know, you know. That you're not alone. That you're not alone."

"I'll be here for you no matter what comes around the corner," Carlos sang, his ever present smile on his face. He lightly swayed along with the song. "As long as I am breathing, you won't have to worry no more."

"Cause you're not alone, girl, look over your shoulder," Kendall lowered his voice to a soft tone, easily matching the tone of the song, making it sound more like a ballad than the pop-rock melody that the rest of the song held. "You don't have to wonder, cause you know, you know."

"Cause you're not alone, girl, look over your shoulder. You don't have to wonder. Cause you know, you know, you know that you're not alone, girl. I'll be there to hold you. I'll stay til it's over. And you know, you know, you know, that you're not alone. That you're not alone. That you're not alone. That you're not alone."

"I bet you didn't notice," James breath-sang, holding his hands waist high as he sang the finishing lines of the song. "First time your heart was broken." He backed up and looked over at Kendal last as he leaned towards his microphone, eyes closed.

"You called me up and we talked til the morning." Kendall finished.

"AMAZING!" Gustavo shout-sang, punching a fist into the air as Kelly cheered, jumping up and down excitedly. "I _knew_ that I had done something right when I saw the 'fire' in you!" Kendall grinned with pride as Gustavo was never one to outright compliment any of them. He waved the boys out of the recording studio.

"Great job, guys!" Kelly all but squealed, holding onto her PalmPilot. "All of the girls that listen to this CD are going to fall in _love_ with this song! It'll be like you're talking directly to them, bringing the band and their fans _that_ much closer."

"Oh, well, that's the plan." Logan agreed, not able to keep the smile off of his face, although he had a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach.

"That was an amazing song, Big Bro." Katie said as she wrapped her arms around Kendall's neck for a hug. Kendall wrapped his arms around her waist and stood up straight as he hugged her back. "And if she doesn't like it, then she's nuts." She whispered encouragingly into his ear.

"Thanks, Katie." Kendall replied.

"Gustavo's right," Sydney agreed as he gave James a high-five and Carlos a fist-bump. "That was one of the best songs that you guys have done in the past year." He looked at Kendall. "Has your mom heard it yet?"

"Not yet," Kendall said as he shook his head. "I was waiting for the right time to let her hear it."

"But we have to give Kendall props," Carlos said as he slung an arm around his friend's shoulders. "We used to make fun of him back home, all the time, when he told us the first time that he would write a few things down, making songs out of it. But now that he's written two of them and has helped on some others, he might be the next best songwriter in LA."

"Well, if you can focus enough to do something like that when the time comes, then I think that you'll be able to do it." Sydney agreed with a nod. "I really liked it." He reached up and gave his older friend a high-five. "When you held out the notes at the end was amazing, you'd definitely give Rhu a run for her money if you ever had a competition to see who can hold out a note longer." He was referring to Rhuben's singing talent where she was able to hold a note out longer than any of her siblings. (They've had competitions about it before and she was always able to beat them by at least thirty seconds).

"What did you guys think?" Katie asked as she turned to her boyfriend and her best friend. Patrick and Noah stayed silent for a few moments. "You haven't said anything about it yet."

"I think the song is great," Patrick replied and Noah nodded silently beside him. "I just think that you should say your goodbye's now, because he's going to die." He concluded and burst out into hysterical laughter. Noah just smiled, flipping his hair from his face.

Kendall then turned to Riley and Rhuben, noticing that the twin girls hadn't moved from their spots and hadn't said a word at all about the song. They just stayed sitting squeezed in the same chair, looking straight ahead, a look of concentration on their faces.

"So?" Kendall asked Riley with a small smile on his face. She shifted her eyes to look at him, but other than that, didn't move. "What'd you think?" Riley continued to look back at him. "I'm only asking because you know that I really value your opinion on this kind of thing, and since it's only my second attempt of writing a song, I figured that you would give me an honest response to it."

"Well," Riley slowly got to her feet. "First thing is, I was _never _heartbroken over James. I wouldn't be heartbroken over being rejected, even if it was by someone as good looking as he is." She leaned over and waved a hand at James. "No offense, Handsome."

"None taken," he replied with a smile and a nod.

"And the second thing?" Kendall prompted, nervously.

"Are you insane?" Riley and Rhuben snapped in unison. The only difference being that Riley was on the verge of yelling it and Rhuben was on the verge of whispering it. But the expressions of anger and annoyance on their faces were completely identical. If it wasn't for the different colored eye shadow they were wearing as well as the different colored streaks in their hair, no one would be able to tell them apart.

"Ok, that was definitely _not_ the reaction that I was looking for." Kendall commented, wiggling a finger in his ear.

"And you thought that the horrified look that she had on her face throughout the whole song _was_?" Logan replied, raising his eyebrows as he turned to Kendall. Kendall slowly narrowed his eyes back at him, gritting his teeth together.

"I thought I was being _nice_!" He ground out.

"What you were being, was an idiot!" Rhuben shot back, her accent immediately coming to her tone.

"Ok, so we're just going to leave." Ronan stated as he got up and started to usher everyone towards the door.

"Like hell we will!" Patrick stated as he and Noah refused to move from the couch. Patrick had a large, excited smile on his face. "I was waiting for them to do something stupid like this for _ages_ and they finally did it!"

"I hate to admit it," Noah said with a small smile of his own. "But I have to agree with Patrick on this one. It's going to be nothing short of entertaining." He turned back to his sisters, who were glaring at him, and his smile was immediately wiped from his face. He gave a nervous laugh. "But when you see one fight, you've seen them all." He tapped Patrick on the shoulder. "Didn't Katie and Lizzie ask us to go to the mall?"

"I think you're right," Patrick said as he got to his feet and started to back away from his sisters. "They did, and we'll be late if we don't leave right now." He grabbed onto Sydney, who hadn't moved. "You too, Syd."

"Aww," Sydney's shoulders slumped. "I never get to see the good stuff."

"Tell you what, next time, we'll tape it." Noah said as he picked up his baby brother and rested him on his shoulder as the others left the room.

"Logie, could you explain something to me?" Riley asked in a fake-sweet tone. She clamped her hand down onto Logan's shoulder, causing him to cry out in pain, although she didn't move her hand. "If Rhu was avoiding you after you wrote that song for her, and you thought it was a bad thing, how come you didn't stop _Kendall," _she used her free hand to smack Kendall on the chest as she said his name. "From doing the same thing?"

"Yeah," Kendall turned to his smart friend. "How come you didn't stop me from doing it too?"

"Frankly," Logan shrugged. "I didn't think you were that stupid."

Rhuben snorted. "Well, you obviously thought wrong."

"Ok," Kendall held his hands up so everyone would stop talking. He turned to Logan. "Thinking that you don't have to physically strap her to a chair to get her to talk to you, why don't you and Rhu talk here, and Riles and I'll go find someplace to talk as well." He turned to Riley. "If that's ok with you?"

"I'm surprised you're asking." Riley said with a vicious bite to her tone. She shrugged as she looked him right in the eye with her steely gaze. "But I guess you'll stop being a hoon eventually. Why not start now?"

"I'm not going anywhere," Rhuben shook her head firmly. "Because it's all plain and simple, we," she pointed to her sister and herself. "_Hate it _when people write songs about us. Unlike most girls who would probably swoon at that kind of thing, it's something that we can't stand."

"Why?" Kendall asked.

The girls stayed silent and Logan studied them for a moment. He knew that there was something that they weren't saying that was the real reason why it was bothering them. He thought back to when he wrote the song for Rhuben, she had avoided him for days, and he was glad that she was finally talking to him again, even if it meant that she was mad at him. At least she was talking.

_She's right though, most girls would like something like this, but it just cause them to back away even further. _Logan let out a sound as he finally realized what was so wrong about it.

"Because it would make them realize that there's someone out there that actually cares for them in the way they want, but are still too afraid to accept it." Logan said quietly. He looked over at Kendall and gave him a soft smile before turned back to the twin girls. "We're not going to make you talk if you don't want to. So when you do want to talk, you know where to find us."

Logan looked at Rhuben once more before turning on his heel and leaving the room. Kendall started after him, but stopped in the doorway, looking back at the two girls. "When are you going to realize that sometimes needing someone isn't a bad thing?" He asked before leaving the room as well.

* * *

><p>Riley lightly licked her lips as her eyes scanned the hockey rink.<p>

It didn't take her long to find Kendall; he was at the far end of the rink, smacking pucks into the net over and over again with more force each time. When he missed the last one, he cursed loudly, his word echoing across the arena, effectively hitting her in the face.

She took a breath before walking down the aisle towards the ice. If he had noticed her, he didn't acknowledge her. He kept his head down and continued to skate around as he gathered the hockey pucks. Riley pulled herself up onto the side of the rink, dangling her legs over the ice as she continued to watch him for a few moments.

"I thought I'd find you here," she commented, her words causing Kendall to pause for a moment.

"According to you I'm not hard to find," Kendall replied, keeping his eyes on the ice. "I'm so predictable." He shrugged. "I guess I am."

Riley shook her head, leaning back a little, bracing herself on the side of the rink, using her hands. "You take things that I say way too seriously. About 90% of the time, I mean what I say, the other 10% not really."

Kendall snorted, finally turning to look at her, his green eyes piercing her blue ones. "It's kind of hard to figure out whether or not you mean what you say, especially since you don't think before you speak."

Riley merely shrugged. "I have a habit of running on impulse than judgment." She replied.

"So I've noticed." Kendall turned and slapped a puck into the goal, setting off an alarm. He gave a short smile before moving to pick up another one.

"Listen, about what happened earlier today," Riley started, rubbing the back of her neck.

"You don't have to say anything," Kendall interrupted her, turning his skates to the side so he could stop and turned to look at her. He rested his stick on the ground and then rested his arms on the top as he shrugged. "I got your message loud and clear. You don't like the idea of people expressing their feelings for you, sorry."

"Ouch." Riley quirked an eyebrow. "If I didn't know any better, I'd think you actually meant that."

"What makes you think that I didn't?" Kendall challenged.

"The fact that you're you."

"Good observation."

"Thanks."

Riley thought for a moment before jumping off the side of the rink, her feet making a light smack sound as her shoes hit the ice. She moved over to Kendall and reached her hand out, taking his hockey stick from his hand. She absentmindedly twirled them around her hands as she looked at him. "I wanted to apologize for the extreme way that I reacted to you today."

"It's alright," Kendall shrugged.

"No, it's not," Riley shook her head. "You wanted to make me feel better and I basically threw all of your hard work right back into your face." She scuffed her foot against the ice. "I wasn't really nice about it; my first reaction to discomfort is to shoot it down as quickly and as harshly as I possibly can."

"You must mean it, since you don't apologize much."

"It's a good song….lots of your fans will like it. I'm just surprised that, knowing you, you didn't do any of your earlier songs like that."

"Well…" Kendall trailed off, looking at her out of the corner of his eye.

"Oh my god, you did, didn't you?" Riley shook her head. She sighed. "Which one?"

"Ones." Kendall corrected her quietly. He licked his lips. "Uh, Worldwide and…Cover Girl. Logan did Nothing Even Matters for Rhu." He noticed her confused look. "What?"

She hesitated for a moment before speaking again. "You didn't even write Worldwide or Nothing Even Matters." She pointed out.

"Good point," Kendall retracted his earlier statement. "Then when we sing it, you're our inspiration."

Riley's upper lip curled with discomfort. "I thought…I thought that you wrote Cover Girl for Katie." She said slowly and then adopted a look of snark. "I mean, Worldwide, that's something as clichéd that _you_ would do. But Cover Girl…I wasn't so sure about that one."

"I wrote that song for you," Kendall replied, flashing a small smile. "It just helped that Katie's problems at the time was what could be used for the song too. I could easily use it as a cover, depending on your reaction to it." He then grimaced. "Just don't tell her that, she was really excited over knowing that I wrote a song for her since I haven't done it before."

"Secret's safe with me," Riley replied and then turned the hockey stick around so the curved end was pointing at Kendall. "So out of everyone," she hooked the hockey stick around his waist and pulled him towards her, causing him to smile. "How is it that I got stuck with the ever so clichéd, romanticism obsessed Hockey-Head like you?" She gave him a teasing smile.

"Just lucky, I guess." Kendall replied as he took the stick back from her.

"I guess," Riley's smirk faded and she pulled her hair behind her ear. "I'm sorry." She said after a moment. "About everything that happened."

"I'm not," Kendall said, startling her. "You wouldn't be you if you didn't react the way you did." He grabbed the hockey stick back from Riley. "Let me finish up here and then we can get something to eat." He skated backwards few paces. "If that's ok with you." He added.

"There's something I have to tell you." Riley replied, grabbing his attention. He turned his skates to the side and stopped moving backwards. "You know how I've been acting funny lately, always being short tempered and everything?" Kendall nodded. "Well, when you confronted me about it when we were working on Superstar, I didn't realize how bad it had gotten."

"How bad what had gotten?" Kendall pressed.

Riley's lower lip trembled for a moment. "I'm bipolar." She replied. "I _have_ Bipolar Disorder," she corrected herself. "Basically…from my abuse and from my parents dying, it's a way that I show depression. My moods change pretty quickly, and I get angry really easily."

"So that's why you hate people?" Kendall nodded slowly, as if it all made sense.

"Contrary to popular belief, I don't hate people. I strongly dislike them, but I don't hate them, there's a difference."

Kendall looked away for a moment, letting it all sink in. He flipped the hockey stick over in his hands as he looked down at it. It all made sense really. He knew that from abuse you could get depression, all of the research that he had done after he found out about what was going on with them had said that you should be on the lookout for it. He knew about Bipolar disorder as well, lots of health classes taught him about it. He just never thought that he would know someone that suffered from it.

"So?" Kendall looked back at her.

"_So_?" She repeated. "That's not usually the kind of response I get to that sort of thing."

"Well, I'm not a normal person; I figured you'd realize that by now." Kendall said. "I'm glad that you told me, it shows that you really trust me. I'm glad that you're opening up." He placed the hockey stick on the ice and rested his arms on it. "If you ever need someone to talk to or to vent to or whatever, just like before, I'll always be there to listen and to help you out."

Riley pushed him away from her. "Don't get all mushy on me, Hockey-Head."

"I wouldn't dream of it."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **This chapter didn't really turn out as well as I had hoped, but I hope you guys liked it anyway.

Cheers,

-Riles


	26. Blow Your Speakers

**.:Chapter Twenty-Six – Blow Your Speakers:..**

* * *

><p>"Hey Ronan, how are you doing?" James asked as he, Logan, Carlos, Katie, and Kendall walked into Ronan's hospital room. The older man was sitting in his bed (which was surrounded by his kids) his left leg elevated up so it would reduce the swelling. But instead of looking tired or even a bit irritated like normal people would, he had a pleasant smile on his face.<p>

"Mom wanted me to bring these by." Katie said as she held up a small vase of flowers. "I thought it was kind of girly, but she insisted."

"Its fine," Ronan replied with a warm smile. "You can just put them there," he pointed to the small table that was by his bedside. "Thanks for coming by, but I'm not going to be here long, I'm going to be out of here soon."

"So the surgery went well?" Logan asked, looking over the stitches.

"Yep," Riley said with a slight sigh as she pulled her hair from her face. "The doctors said that it was one of the easier operations they had to do." She gave a slight smile as she turned to Ronan. "It helped that you were knocked out the whole time."

Ronan gave a half-amused smile back.

"Are you _sure_ that you're ok?" Sydney asked anxiously from where he was sitting on the bed, next to his adoptive father. He leaned forward and looked at the stitches that ran across Ronan's left knee. "Are you sure they didn't hit a vein or something?"

"Yeah, you never know," Patrick spoke up, frowning. "You could be internally bleeding or something." Noah's face quickly shifted from calm to concern as he leaned forward to look as well.

Ronan rolled his eyes as he leaned his head back before looking over at the boys and Katie. "_Now_ you see why I didn't want them around here." He commented.

Kendall smiled to himself as he watched the exchange between all of them. In a way, it was nice to see that the tables had turned, letting the Jacksons see how very worried they were for Ronan, when it was usually him that was worried about them. But on the other hand, it just caused worry for himself, if they got this strung out over their Dad, how bad would they be if one of their friends got hurt or really sick? Kendall looked up and caught Ronan's eye, noticing that he was quickly shifting it from the door back to him.

Kendall got it quickly; Ronan didn't want them to stay any longer than they needed to. It would probably cause them more anxiety than they were used to.

"So, what are your plans going to be if you're going to be on crutches for a while?" James asked, shoving his hands into his pockets. "It can't be easy to produce music if you can't get around as fast."

"Well, Gustavo and Kelly said that they were going to help me," Ronan said with a short wave of his hand. "And that's also why I called Julius and Brittany last night; they're already on their way over here to help me out."

Kendall was surprised to see that the Jacksons didn't even perk up at the idea of their oldest brother coming to stay with them for a while. He hardly had time to go visit them, so they were usually greatly anticipated, but now they looked like they wouldn't even be roused by the idea of getting to go into their favorite store and get everything 90% off.

Kendall cleared his throat and spoke up. "Well, that means that you'd be pretty busy with your work," he turned to the Jacksons. "How about we go and hang out at the crib? That way he can get some peace and quiet and rest his knee so it'll heal faster."

"That's a good idea," Carlos jumped in at the suggestion with a bright smile. Even he could pick up on his friend's anxiety. "We could have another party, maybe writer another song or something? I'm sure Mama Knight wouldn't mind if you guys came by!"

"I don't know," Rhuben shrugged, looking towards Ronan again. "Wouldn't it be better if we were around to help you? You know, before the others got there?" She placed a hand on his foot. "I mean, god knows that Gustavo would accidentally murder him and say that he was trying to help."

"I wouldn't put it past him," Ronan agreed. He then laughed and shook his head. "No, go ahead; I want you guys to have fun. You've been working so hard finishing up your CDs as quickly as possible and now you're freaking out over a minor surgery. I'm fine, go ahead."

Riley twisted her mouth to the side. "You're not taking 'no' for an answer are you?" She asked.

"Not on your life." Ronan swung his legs to the side, being careful to move his left leg slowly. "Hand me those crutches over there," he pointed to the corner of the room. Logan moved to get it, but Sydney quickly jumped off of the bed and hurried over to get them. He walked back over and handed them to Ronan, sticking close to his side as he stood up. "See," he leaned forward a bit. "I'm fine, go out and have some fun with your friends." He paused when they didn't move. "Now."

"Fine," Patrick moved away from the bed and put his arm around Riley's shoulders.

"Trust me, guys;" Katie smiled. "This is going to be fun."

* * *

><p>"Whoever's idea it was to make me teach you guys how to bake a cake is insane." Riley commented from where she was sitting on a stool, watching as Carlos placed a beater in a bowl of cake batter and turned it on.<p>

"Oh, come on, you know that this is fun." Kendall said as he turned a page in the cookbook he was looking at. He lifted his head and looked around. "Well, it's not going to be great for whomever has to clean this mess, but it's still fun."

"Fun up until you have to watch to make sure these two don't put anything wrong in it." Riley murmured as she leaned over Carlos' bowl of batter, checking to see how lumpy it is. She pulled her hair behind her ears before moving a pan aside and grabbing an empty bowl that had some batter on the sides and turned to Sydney. "Do you want to lick the bowl?"

"No thanks," Sydney replied, his lower lip sticking out. He had his chin in his hands and he was staring at Riley's phone as it was resting on his legs. "When's Ronan going to call?"

"When he gets home, Little Man," James said and mused his hair. "Until then, just have some fun. It's not going to kill him if you don't think about him at one second of the day.'

"I guess." James and Kendall exchanged glances and shrugged. Once Sydney had his mind set to something, you weren't going to be able to take it away. Sydney lifted his head, his eyes squinted a little. "Have you guys started work on that new song yet?"

"We have a title and the chorus," James said as he took the bowl that was in Riley's hands and dragged his finger in it. "It's called _Blow Your Speakers_." He stuck his finger in his mouth and smiled when the sweet batter hit his tongue.

Riley gave him an odd look. "You're not trying to seduce me are you? 'Cause I have to say that it's not working."

Carlos laughed loudly, pointing a finger at James, who looked disgruntled. In turn, James took his bowl and turned it upside down, placing it on Carlos' head. When Carlos gave him a disgruntled look, James opened his mouth wide and started to laugh at him as well.

Sydney gave a hint of a smile as he turned to Kendall. "How do you put up with them?" He asked.

"Not well, I can tell you that." Kendall replied, his eyes narrowing a little bit.

Sydney smiled and laughed a little. "Can we hear the song?"

"Nope," Kendall shook his head. "Gustavo wants this one to be a secret, it's very hush-hush." He turned to Riley as she snorted.

"Carlos can't keep a secret," she pointed out. "Do you _really_ think that he won't spill it before the day is over?"

"Good point."

Logan turned away from the sink and grabbed two plates of food, walking it over to the kitchen table, where Rhuben was sitting, looking at her phone. "Here," Logan pushed a plate of sandwich and chips over to Rhuben. She gave him a curious look as he sat down across from her, his own plate in his hand. "You look hungry."

"I'm not," she replied, pushing the plate away from her. "Not yet anyway," she gave a soft smile. "I'm waiting for the cake."

"If Carlos doesn't poison you with it at least," Logan replied as he twisted in his seat to watch as Carlos and James started to fight over whose turn it was to continue beating the batter. Patrick, Noah, and Katie were playing video games. Kendall was looking at a recipe book to see what the next instructions were, and Sydney was sitting on the counter, half-watching and half staring at Riley's phone that was in his hands, as if waiting for a phone call. "What's Syd doing?"

"He wants Ronan to call as soon as he gets back to the apartment," Rhuben explained. Her eyes narrowed as Logan nodded, turning back around. He looked at her and she studied him for a moment before leaning back. "Either Ronan told you or you've figured it out for yourself." She said.

Logan thought about lying, but when he noticed how serious Rhuben was, he decided just to tell the truth. "I had my suspicions, but I didn't want to actually ask." He pushed her plate back towards her. "How long have you been anorexic?"

"Ah, not long," Rhuben shook her head. "Well," she let out a humorless laugh as she raised and lowered a shoulder in a Jackson-esque shrug. "It doesn't seem like it's been that long. Ronan and my siblings caught it really fast so I got treatment for it without any of the press finding out."

"When'd it start?" Logan asked, lowering his voice so the others guys wouldn't hear their conversation.

"Probably when I was 11 or 12," Rhuben thought for a moment. "About the time that we started in the industry, it was the stress and a couple of comments that people gave me, I fell into it pretty quickly." She looked sad. "I remember watching the gymnasts and dancers on TV when I was little, wishing that I could be like them. So when I was sure that it was what I really wanted, I begged, and begged for Mom and Dad to let my try dancing. I became really good at it really fast. But with that comes jealousy from other people and then there was Robert shoving everything on us." She inspected her sandwich before picking it up. "Everyone says that it's something that you have to get over, but you're never going to get over it. It's a disease and I'm going to have it for the rest of my life. Even now it's a struggle. The recovery process is not an easy one, and every now and then I feel the almost-uncontrollable urge to go back to it."

"So what do you do?" Logan asked his eyes wide.

"Immerse myself in other things," Rhuben said. "Working with you guys has really helped for the most part. But there are times where it comes back and there's nothing I can do but force myself to get through it. There are times where I don't want to eat and I'll sit at the dinner table for hours, just picking at my plate. Ronan's a good sport about it though, so are the others, they'll sit with me to make sure that I finish."

"Is there anything that we can do to help you when you need it?" Logan ran a hand through his hair. "Do you want me to tell the others? I won't if you don't."

"Nah," Rhuben shook her head. "I'll just tell them when I think they're ready." She smirked, moving her sandwich to her mouth. "It'll be our secret."

Logan smiled. "We haven't had one in a while."

"I know." The two were quiet for a bit as they both continued to eat their lunch. "But I was thinking about what you guys said earlier," Rhuben said as she pulled her feet up onto her chair. "About it being a good thing to need someone." She picked up a chip and took a large bite out of it.

"Oh really?" Logan messed with his napkin. "What about it?"

"I didn't think that it applied to me," Rhuben gave a short shrug. "Because, even though we were fighting, I always had you around to talk to. I didn't have to worry about needing you because in some ways, I already had you." She turned away, an embarrassed pink hue staining her cheeks.

"And you always will," Logan reached out and grabbed onto her hand, smiling a little before she pulled it away from him, resting it in her lap. "We made that promise when we were kids, and it's not going to be broken anytime soon."

"Cheese ball," Rhuben balled up her napkin and tossed it into his face.

"But you love me anyway." Logan tossed it back at her.

The two smiled at each other.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **I wanted to do another friendship-ish chapter since things are winding down with the end of the story. Of course I had to throw some Lella in there. I'm sorry not much happened, it ended up coming out like a filler, which isn't what I intended. But such is life. I know there wasn't music in this at all, but I think that the song really fits the chapter as well, since it's so upbeat and the Jacksons are turning back to their crazy selves. I hope you guys liked it.

Cheers,

-Riles


	27. Elevate

**.:Chapter Twenty-Seven – Elevate:.**

**A/N: **I don't know if you saw my tweet on twitter about this, but Elevate has been changed from 30 chapters to 28, based solely on the fact that the two chapters before the final two would have just been (somewhat badly written) fillers. I feel that I've tied up the story lines enough to put the gist of the fillers at the beginning of this chapter before it got to the original point.

* * *

><p>I hope you guys don't hate me too much for that. Haha<p>

"Are we late?" Jo asked as she, Camille, and Stephanie pushed her way into Gustavo's office. "Did we miss anything?" She looked around at Ronan, Mrs. Knight, Big Time Rush, the DarkElements, Katie, Lizzie, Dak and WayneWayne, who were crammed into the office as well. "This is _so _exciting!"

"It'll be even _more_ exciting when we can see the CD," Katie replied patiently. "When you _sit down_."

Jo flashed a quick smile and the three girls closed the door behind them and moved to stand with their friends across from Gustavo's desk, where he and Kelly were sitting there, grinning proudly. They were finally going to be able to see the finished product of their second CD.

"Boys, I know that I don't say this enough for you to actually believe me," Gustavo said, stalling for time. "But you did such an amazing job on this CD. I didn't think that you would be able to write as many songs as you did. I was even skeptical when we put out Music Sounds Better With U as a single. But that's blown up all over the internet as well as the memberships on your new website Club Rush. It's only opened last week and you already have over 50,000 members."

"And since we're going to announce your new tour soon, and the ultimate members of the site gets the first crack at ticket sales, you're bound to get even more members." Kelly added.

"Blah, blah, blah," Carlos waved a hand. "Who cares about that? We want to see the CD!"

"Alright, alright," Gustavo reached down under his desk and pulled out a large box. He slowly opened the flaps and dug his hand into the box before pulling out a CD case. He grinned as he turned it over to reveal the cover. "Elevate is going to be in stores by November 21st!" He declared as Kendall, Logan, Carlos, and James let out shrieks of excitement and dove forward to grab the CD case, like they did when they had finished their first album.

"Elevate huh?" WayneWayne asked as Kelly walked around, passing everyone else a CD for them to have. "That's actually a cool title for it." He turned it over to look at the back. "How did you come up with the name?"

"That's the song that James wrote," Kendall explained. "It was so good that we thought that it would be a good title for the CD."

"A good closer for it as well." Logan chimed in.

"I can't wait to hear the whole thing," Lizzie said with a large smile as opened the CD and flipped through the booklet. She turned to Katie. "I'm going to have mine playing all night long? What about you?" She blinked as an evil grin suddenly slid onto her friend's face.

"What do you think?" She asked, rapidly raising and lowering her eyebrows. "People will pay big bucks to get one of the first Elevate CDs before it goes out into stories in two weeks."

"You're so evil."

"I know."

"Ok, some other things that you need to know before you run off to do whatever," Gustavo waved a hand. "You're having a album release party the 23rd, but we want to make this big, in accordance with you new album, so we're going to do a concert for it. Those that are in the area get to buy your CD when it goes into stores, they'll get a wristband that lets them into a CD signing with you guys, and that'll also make them able to go into the concert/party thing."

"But that's not all," Kelly's smile was so wide that it was obvious she couldn't contain her excitement. "The next day, on Thanksgiving, you guys are going to fly to Dallas, Texas, to sing the National Anthem at the Dallas Cowboys-Miami Dolphins game."

"No way!"

"Wow, that's so cool, guys!" Stephanie cried. "Ugh, it's too bad I'm going back home for Thanksgiving, I'm going to have to watch on TV." She pouted a little. "It's going to be such a great game too," she added with a slight shake of her head.

"Something tells me that you're more into it for the game than watching them sing." Dak said with a laugh.

"Who says I can't do both?" Stephanie shrugged.

"We have to celebrate this," Mrs. Knight said with a proud smile. "It's not every day that you release your highly-anticipated second album." She thought for a moment. "How about we all go out to dinner tonight?" She then turned and placed a hand on Gustavo's shoulder. "And it'll all be on Gustavo."

"WHAT?" Gustavo shouted in rage, tuning to glare at Mrs. Knight. When she glared back at him, he shrunk low in his chair, nodding rapidly. "Got it, dinner tonight. On me. That's a good idea."

Ronan laughed. "Relax, Gustavo, I'll pay for half of it." He offered.

"Wow, if we can get free food like this, I wonder what kind of stuff we'll get when we _really_ make it big." James said with a bright smile. "Free clothes, free food, free movie passes, we get to go to award shows, movie premiers, nightclubs." He started to ramble, becoming starry-eyed at everything that he could potentially want with the money that they were going to be receiving. "I could get lots of shoes, cars, music players, phones-"

"I think we get the point, James." Camille said. She let out a wistful sigh. "I think we lost him to the dark side."

"And to think we can say that we knew him _before _he turned into an ego-centric jerk that only cared about his career and money." Patrick agreed with a smile.

"Ha, ha." James rolled his eyes.

"Well, there's one thing I know for sure," Sydney said, flipping his overgrown hair out of his face. "You guys have finally made it _there_."

* * *

><p>"Is everybody ready for the final song?" Gustavo asked as he and Ronan slowly crutched his way into the boys' dressing room. "We only have a few minutes left!" He looked over at Riley, who was scurrying back and forth between the guys, making sure that they had everything that they needed for the final number. "Aren't you done yet?"<p>

Riley's head whipped around and she glared at Gustavo with the venom of a rattlesnake. "I'm working on it!" She snapped. "Perfection takes time, don't rush me." She warned him.

Gustavo nodded rapidly as he took a step back. Ronan laughed loudly. "Riles, I think you and Rhubes are the only ones that can get Gustavo to do something in an authority figure kind of way."

"And we're proud of it." Riley replied with a grin.

"Hey, are the guys ready?" Noah asked as he, Rhuben, Patrick, and Sydney walked into the dressing room. He held a black jacket in his hands. "We have to get to our places too." He reminded them with a smile. "Big finale and everything."

"Yeah, yeah, we know." Carlos said as he held his arms out like Riley had instructed him to. "Besides, who can forget that as soon as we're done here, we have to run to get to the airport so we can go down to Dallas and sing the National Anthem?" He put his arms to his sides as soon as Riley was done and turned to Logan. "Aren't you excited to be going back to your first home?"

"What I'm more excited about is mom's home cooking," Logan replied with a big smile. "And being able to have all of my friends around for Thanksgiving; that's gonna be awesome too," He tilted his head to the side. "I just hope that we have enough food so that the rest of us can eat as soon as Gustavo is done."

"I heard that!" Gustavo snapped back, holding a hand up to his ear. He removed his hand and looked at the boys. "That was Kelly; she says we have _exactly _a minute and thirty seconds left!"

"Done!" Riley declared as she stepped back. She took her jacket from Noah and quickly pulled it on. "What do you think?"

Gustavo, Ronan, Rhuben, Patrick, Noah, and Sydney studied Big Time Rush, but they had to admit that the boys looked good. Compared to the clothes that they were for the first album, which seemed like they didn't know what they wanted to be perceived as, the guys looked amazing. Dressed in black and white, they had their different styles represented in their clothing and it looked more mainstream and 'in the now' than it was before.

"I think they stole our color," Patrick joked as he wrinkled his nose.

"Blame them, they asked to wear more black and then told me what they wanted their clothes to look like and that's what I came up with when I drew it." Riley replied as she waved a hand. "It was No's sewing that got it all done in time."

"Sweet," Rhuben grinned as she pushed up the sleeves of her own black jacket. "You guys look _amazing_! Really bonzer," she smirked as she tilted her head to the side. "Probably the best that you've ever looked, actually."

"And of course you can't give an outright compliment," James said as he rolled his eyes. "But yes, I do know that I look amazing." He laughed as Kendall, Carlos, and Logan smacked him on the back of the head.

"One minute, guys." Sydney warned, looking at his watch.

"Ok, everyone, hands in," Kendall said, jumping into leader mode once more. He moved to make a circle with him and his friends and they all put their hands out in the center of the circle that they created, each holding tightly onto someone else's hand. "Tonight is the first time that we're performing the last song on our album and we can definitely say that we have elevated with our music in the past year. So, let's go out and have a great show, alright?"

"We're not going to do that quack thing are we?" Rhuben asked, turning her dark blue eyes over to Kendall. "I mean, I think that we can come up with something a bit cooler than that."

"You mean like that jiggalo thing?" Carlos shot back and then started to spastically flail his arms as if he was electrocuted. Patrick raised an eyebrow and Carlos grinned at him. "Hey, you knock our tradition, we knock yours."

"Ok, how about we just shake out the nerves and get going." Sydney suggested. He started to bounce up and down repeatedly. "I'm sooooo excited for this, I _love _this song!" He grinned so wide the others were afraid that he would split his face open. "It's probably my favorite song off of the album."

"Oh really, we couldn't guess." Ronan replied with a laugh. He waved his left crutch. "You better get going."

"Ok, pass the ball," Kendall said and signaled Sydney to start by squeezing James' hand, who was to his left, and they would start passing it around and around the circle. He looked at his friends, who looked back at him, hardly able to contain their excitement. "2011 is almost over and I want this to be the best show of the year as it's the last. Ready?"

"Ready!" The others replied.

"Move it!" Gustavo instructed loudly, causing them to get going as they moved out of the room.

"Have a great show, guys!" Ronan called after them.

Big Time Rush and the DarkElements hurried out of the dressing room and over to the stage as fast as possible. They could hear the audience's scream and shouts as well as being able to see the flashes of their cameras and waving glow-sticks as they approached the stage. Stage-hands were running back and forth all around them, barking into walkie-talkies as they went.

"Don't forget that we changed a bit of the dance for the chorus," Rhuben called as she adjusted her head-mic as they arrived at the stage. "Carlos, after you jump off the trampoline, move further to the right so you get to your mark before the pyro goes off." She turned to Logan and clasped her hands together. "And Logie-Bear, please, if you mess up, whatever you do, _don't _let it show on your face. Have a good show, guys." She said and followed her siblings under the stage to wait for their cue.

"Thanks!" James called back as he moved to his mark on the stage, putting his sunglasses on. He exchanged high-fives with Kendall, Logan, and Carlos. "Good luck."

"You too." Carlos pulled his hat further onto his head.

The four of them waited a few beats, getting the heads-up that they could start singing. "Elevate a little higher, let's throw a party in the sky and celebrate. Elevate it till we flyin', Mo-move your feet until you levitate, come let's elevate."

James started out the song as they did a few of their dance moves at the top of the stairs that were placed on stage. "Forget about your day, under the Milky Way, I know a place where we can go, oh oh." He did a quick spin on the balls of his feet and pointed over to Logan as the four walked down the stairs to the beat of the song.

"No need to be afraid," Logan smiled towards the audience and motioned to himself. "Come on i'll demonstrate, take you to outer space. Here we go, Here we go."

He started to jump up and down on the balls of his feet as James, Kendall, and Carlos ran back and forth across the stage, getting the audience as hyped up as possible. "If you want to partay, I know you're down. If you wanna partay, you wanna partay," the four of them came together again and started the dance routine that they created for the song. "Elevate a little higher. Let's throw a party in the sky and celebrate. Elevate it till we flyin'. Mo-move your feet until you levitate, come let's elevate."

Carlos moved to the front of the stage and spotted their friends dancing along with the song, having heard it countless times before. He waved to them, pointing directly at Stephanie as he sang. "We're floatin' in the air, look at the view from here. Show you a world you never seen before."

"We're dancin' in the stars, no matter where we are." Kendall sang as the four moved towards the front of the stage. "Jupiter Boulevard, here we go, here we go." As he finished his line, a set of pyros went off at the same time that the DarkElements were launched onstage from beneath the stage. The audience went wild, obviously not expecting the band that opened for them to help them close the show as well.

"If you want to partay," The DarkElements sang as they skipped forward to the beat of the song to be stand a bit behind their friends.

"I know you're down." Big Time Rush replied with bright smiles on their faces.

"If you wanna partay."

"If you wanna partay."

"Elevate a little higher," The Jacksons did a collective backflip as the pyro went off once more, and confetti was sent falling from the ceiling. They did their own dance routine to the chorus as Big Time Rush continued with theirs, the contrast giving a good effect for the song. "Let's throw a party in the sky and celebrate. Elevate it till we flyin'. Mo-move your feet until you levitate, come let's elevate."

"Don't even hesitate, just let it escalate." Logan sang as he, Rhuben, and Noah moved to one side of the stage. "I wanna see you go Whoaohoh, whoaoh oh oh, woah."

"Break through the ceiling now, it's time to hit the clouds," Kendall sang as he, Riley, and Sydney moved to the other side of the stage, leaving James, Carlos and Patrick in the middle. "And no, we ain't coming down."

They went back through the chorus once more. "Elevate a little higher, let's throw a party in the sky and celebrate. Elevate until we're flying, move, move your feet until you levitate, come on let's elevate. Elevate. Elevate. Elevate. Elevate."

The nine of them grabbed hands and came together at the front of the stage and bowed together, reveling in the sound of the audience congratulating them on a job well done. Before they knew it, they were heading out of the arena to go to the airport so Big Time Rush could sing the National anthem.

* * *

><p>"Oh my god, I don't think I've ever been this nervous in my entire life," Kendall sighed as he fanned himself with his free hand, the other holding tightly onto a microphone. "I think I'm going to be sick."<p>

"Just don't get sick on national TV, Big Bro." Katie replied as she rested her hand on Patrick's shoulder and lifted her foot, pulling the heel of her shoe out of the mud and grass at the side of the football field. "You're going to do an amazing job."

"You don't know that!" Carlos snapped, looking like he was about to fall apart.

"Yeah we do," Gustavo replied with a firm nod. "You guys have learned almost everything that you're ever going to need to learn in the music industry and now you're going to be able to face those that just written you off as another boy band that has no talent. You're going to prove them wrong."

"And who knows, you might get even more fans from this experience." Kelly added.

"You're going to be called in a few seconds," Sydney said, getting everyone's attention. "Can I give you a piece of advice?" The boys nodded, holding tightly onto their microphones. "Cool," Sydney's dimples appeared in his cheeks. "Ok, so, we've sang the national anthem at some rugby games, and you need to be sure that you don't speed through the song, keep your breathing steady, and put as much emotion into it as possible." He paused for a moment and his smile widened. "But you're going to do amazing anyway, so go out there and kill it!"

"Thanks Syd," Carlos held out his hand and Sydney quickly fist-bumped it.

"You have to go," Noah pointed over to the men that were waving towards them. "Good Luck." He added with a smile as they moved by him. "We're all rooting for you."

"Thanks," Kendall smiled over at his friends and the four of them walked out into the middle of the field.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, presenting tonight today's colors the Salvation Army color guard along with US army troops from Fort Texas. To honor America, performing today's anthem, Rocque Records recording artist…Big Time Rush!"

Ronan, Kacy, Kelly, Gustavo, Mr. and Mrs. Mitchell, Katie, and the Jacksons all cheered along with the audience as they got ready to sing the national anthem. The Jacksons shuffled to the side, all grinning like crazy, to get a better view of their friends.

Kendall took a deep breath before starting. "Oh, say can you see,"

"By the dawn's early light," James came in.

"What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?" The four of them sang together at the beginning of the line, leaving Kendall towards the end.

"Whose broad stripes and bright stars," Carlos started off on the next line.

"Thru the perilous fight," Logan came in next, trying to keep a smile off of his face.

"O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming?" The four of them sang together once more. "And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air, gave proof through the night that our flag was still there."

"Oh, say does that star-spangled," Logan and Carlos started and then Kendall and James came in together for the end of the song. "Banner yet wave. O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?"

The four boys stayed on the field for a few more moments, grinning at each other. They couldn't believe it! They just sang the _national anthem _in front of _thousands _of people! Looking around the stadium, they could see the audience waving flags and towels as well as clapping and cheering loudly for them. On the side of the field they could see Katie and the Jacksons jumping up and down as they cheered for their friends. They were then nudged off of the field and they waved to the audience as they walked back over to their friends.

"I'm so proud of you!" Kacy said as she wrapped her arms around Kendall and gave him a big hug and a kiss on the cheek as soon as they got off-field. "I love you."

"I love you, too, Mom." Kendall replied as he hugged her back.

"BIG TIME RUSH SANG THE NATIONAL NATHEM ON NATIONAL TV!" Gustavo declared as he punched the air with his fists. "Next stop, taking over the world!" He swung his arm, almost hitting Ronan on the side of the head. "Sorry, Gimpy."

"I would suggest that you don't say that very loud," Ronan said as he leaned against his crutches, brushing his hair from his face. "_We_ already know that you're crazy, but we don't need anyone else around here to know that as well." He joked.

"Can it, McGuire." Gustavo shot back.

"Glad to see that he's back to normal," Kelly dead-panned as she lightly hit Kacy on the arm. "It's sad for the peace and quiet to go."

"I hear you." Kacy replied and held up her hand for a high-five.

"Guys, guys, listen," Rhuben said to get the boys' attention. She waved her arm up towards the stands. "Hear that?" She asked. "All of that applause is for you guys." She looked at her siblings, who were beaming with pride before turning back to Big Time Rush with a smile of her own, her eyes sparkling. "We're all proud of you."

"Stop, you're making me blush." James joked, causing everyone to laugh.

"You know that we wouldn't be here without you guys." Carlos said as he rubbed his hands on the sides of his pants, having given up the microphones as soon as they had gotten on the sidelines of the field when they were done. "If you hadn't agreed to let Gustavo hire you guys to help us, we probably wouldn't have learned so much about ourselves and our music that we wouldn't be here. We can't thank you enough."

"Careful," Riley put her arm around Patrick's shoulders. "We wouldn't want his head to swell."

"Funny," Patrick stuck out his tongue at her. "I was about to say the same thing about _you_."

"Anyway," Mrs. Mitchell stepped forward with a bright smile on her face. As soon as they had gotten to Dallas the night before, Logan had joined them and slept in his old home, as they had rented it from the new owners as they went away for Thanksgiving and everyone else stayed in a hotel. They had met up with them for breakfast that morning and they then all headed over to the field to watch the guys perform. "Who's ready to go back to the house and eat?"

"ME!" Patrick, Carlos, and Gustavo shouted in unison, shoving their hands into the air.

"You can always get older, but you'll never outgrow some things," Noah said as he shook his head. And to further prove his point, he turned and grabbed onto Rhuben's shoulders, jumping onto her back. "Now, to the car!" He declared, pointing forward.

"If you weren't my brother, I would totally drop you on the ground." Rhuben said as she shook her head. She hesitated for a moment, her cheeks turning a bit pink as she reached out and grabbed onto Logan's hand. With a pleased smile, he gave her a questioning look. "Just in case I lose my balance." She explained.

"Whatever floats your boat." Logan returned. "But what about the magazines and stuff?" He asked, gesturing around to the press that was by the sides of the field. "I'm sure PopTiger is around somewhere to get an interview."

"I think they're a bit too busy with the game." Rhuben reminded him.

"Seriously, adding onto what James said," Kendall said from Riley's side, causing her to tilt her head up to look at him as they walked towards their cars to go over to Logan's former house. "We really couldn't have done any of this without you guys helping us. I don't know if just saying 'thanks' will be enough."

"I'm sure we'll find a way for you guys to repay us eventually." Riley said as she crossed her arms over her chest. She let out a breath. "Listen; about the whole thing with James, no you're going to want to hear this." She continued as Kendall moved to stop her. He nodded and let her continue. "He was right when he said that I was only physically attracted to him. But to you, it's that, but I'm also mentally and emotionally attracted to you, I really don't know why." She added, reverting to her habit of making a joke when she was uncomfortable about something. "But the reason that I went ahead and told James that I liked him, but it took a while for me to tell you, is because in relationships, if things aren't moving the way I want them to, then I'll take charge and take the step forward."

"And at the time you didn't want anything to do with me," Kendall concluded with a nod. "That makes sense." He slowly smirked as Riley nodded. "So what does that mean for me? Now?"

Riley chuckled before jumping up onto his back and wrapping her arms around his neck, giving him a hug. "What does that tell you?" She gently asked, pulling her head back so she wasn't yelling directly into his ear.

"It tells me," Kendall wrapped his arms around her legs to be sure that she didn't fall. "That we're bound to have an interesting relationship."

"Come on guys," Sydney started to run ahead, dragging Katie by the hand behind him. "I'm hungry!"

"Race ya there!" James called back as he started running.

Ronan laughed as the kids easily left himself, Gustavo, Kacy, and Kelly in the dust. "How long do you think that it's going to take for them to realize that we parked on the _other _side of the stadium?"

* * *

><p>"Oh my god, the phones are ringing off the hook with people calling and saying how well you guys did." Katie said as the Mitchell's phone pealed once more.<p>

"I know," Carlos agreed as he held up his own phone. "Steph called as soon as we were done and she said that her whole family watched it."

"Should we answer them?" Sydney asked as he stood by the phone, watching as the call log continued to get filled with call after call after call. "Your answering machine is probably just going to get filled with this stuff and it's going to take _forever _for you to get through it." He looked over his shoulder as Logan reached around him and picked up the phone, looking at the caller ID.

He shook his head. "Answer after dinner, we have to eat," Logan said with a laugh as he muted the ringer on a phone, tossing it onto the couch. He followed his friends to the extended dining room table and sat down in his chair in between Kendall and James.

Ronan waited until everyone had filled their plates before he grabbed everyone's attention by tapping his fork on the side of his glass. He smiled over at Mr. Mitchell as he helped Ronan get to his feet. "Before we start eating, which I'm sure Gustavo is ready to rip my head off to do," he said, noticing Gustavo's short glare as he put down his fork and knife. "I just want to say a few words." He thought for a moment before speaking again. "You want to know what I'm thankful for?" Ronan asked as he looked around. "And call me cheesy, but I really need to say this."

"Here we go," Gustavo muttered and rubbed his arm as Kelly elbowed him sharply.

"I'm thankful for everything that I have experienced with all of my friends in the past 10 years. I'm glad to have been able to become such good friends with Gustavo, Kelly, and Kacy," he turned to Big Time Rush. "And then being able to meet these four boys and being able to watch their talent increase as they continue to work on the music, just like my kids did, and have a part in that is something that I could never put a price on." He smiled at Katie. "Being able to watch Katie outsmart even the smartest businessmen in Hollywood is something that I wish I could be able to do first-hand, but I was able to get some pretty good tips from her." Katie beamed as Ronan continued. "But being able to watch my kids go from being so closed off and so into their work, to being so open and having friends that are always going to be there for them in almost two years is something that I've always wanted to see happen and it finally did."

He rubbed the side of his face, giving a nervous laugh. "So for this year, I'm thankful for all of the friends that I've made, all of the experiences we've shared, and for just being able to share it with a great group of people." He looked around once more. "So thanks."

"Let's eat!" Gustavo declared, rubbing his hands together.

**THE END**


	28. Epilogue

**.:Chapter Twenty-Eight:.**

**Epilogue**

* * *

><p>"Mom, we're ready to go!" Kendall said as he knocked on the door of his mother's and Katie's room, before leaning against the door frame. He smiled as he watched her put on the finishing touches of her make-up. "You look nice." He commented as he walked into the room and leaned over, giving her a kiss on the cheek.<p>

"Thanks sweetie," Kacy replied as she reached up and placed her hands on Kendall's as his was resting on her shoulder. She turned to face him. "Are you sure that you don't mind me and Ronan dating?" She asked for, probably the 50th time. Just to make sure. "I want you to know that I'm not trying to get him to replace your father or anything."

Kendall shrugged as he looked away for a moment. So things weren't great with his father. He's been having a great life ever since he left. Why would he want to change it now? Kendall turned back to his mother with a smile.

"Its fine, mom." He said warmly. "I don't think I've seen you as happy. Now," he crossed his arms over his chest. "Trying to get the Jacksons to listen to you when they're play-fighting, that's another thing you have to worry about." He said with a teasing smile. "You haven't seen them do it much, since they're usually on their best behavior around here."

"I'm sure I can handle it," Kacy replied as she got to her feet. She followed Kendall out of her room, flipping off the lights as she grabbed her purse. She waved her arm out towards the floor where James, Carlos, and Logan were rolling around, screaming and shouting at each other about something. "Considering I look after your friends while we're out here." Kendall laughed in agreement as Kacy whistled loudly, getting their attention. "LISTEN UP; WE'RE GOING TO BE LATE IF WE DON'T GO NOW! MOVE IT!"

James, Logan, and Carlos immediately leapt to their feet at Kacy's shout and immediately started to apologize, their voices over-lapping each other as they did so. Kacy smiled as she turned to her son, who looked back at her with an amused smile on his face.

"I think I'll be fine." She said.

* * *

><p>"Wow, nice place," Katie said in awe as she stepped out of her mother's rental car, staring up at the Jacksons' new house, her mouth dropping open. She closed the door behind her, hitching a purse up her shoulder as she did so and turned to Kendall. "How come we don't have a place like this?" she asked him.<p>

"Would you really want to give up the sweet crib in the PalmWoods for this?" Kendall asked her.

"Yes!" She replied at the same time that Logan, James, and Carlos snapped the answer at him. Kendall jumped, his eyes widening as he looked back at them. "Hey, I think they have a pool back there!" She said and scurried around the side of the house. "Guys, you need to check out the pool!" her voice wafted back from the back of the house.

"I hope you're not with me only for my pool!" Patrick called as he and his siblings headed out of the house, obviously in the middle of moving boxes everywhere. He grinned at his friends. "I figured that my sense of humor had something to do with it, too." He added with a short shrug. He laughed as Sydney practically flew across the lawn to give his friends big hugs.

"Nice place, huh?" Noah added as he raised and lowered one shoulder.

"It's a little too big for our liking," Rhuben added as she tossed her braided pig-tails over her shoulders. "But it's cool, hopefully there's enough space for all of us." She added with a nod and a smile.

"I don't think space will be a problem, Beautiful." James replied as he continued to look over the house. His eyebrows rose. "But we're glad for you guys; hopefully things will really get better for you now. Of course we're always going to be around to help."

"More like always be around to swim in our pool, Handsome." Riley replied as she picked up a box labeled 'Sports Stuff'. She shifted it back and forth before opening one of the flaps. "Hey Syd, I found your rollerblades." She handed him the box and he quickly scurried over to the garage to put it up. She gave Kacy a finger-wave as she finally got out of the car and walked over to them. "Hey Mama Knight, how are you?"

"I'm good, thanks," Kacy replied with a warm smile. She held up her phone. "Kelly and Gustavo are on their way over; they had to stop at the grocery store before coming over." She shrugged. "I couldn't really hear Kelly over Gustavo's whining in the background." She looked over the house herself. "It's really beautiful." She noted. "Do you mind if I take a look around?"

"Not at all, go ahead." Patrick tossed his head back towards the house as Katie came back over to them. "Ronan's in there anyway, I think he's setting things up in the kitchen." He said as he scratched his chest. Kacy nodded and disappeared inside.

"I'm serious guys," Katie said, her eyes wide with excitement. "You _have_ to see the pool."

"Wait until you see the hot-tub." Patrick said with a smile and a wink.

"Ok," Kendall held up his hands. "I get that you're dating my sister and everything, but can you _please_ not flirt in front of me?" He moved his hands to his stomach. "It's making me sick."

"You know he could easily shoot that back into your face, right?" Noah reminded him, causing Kendall to roll his eyes. "Speaking of which, when are Jo and them getting here?"

"You wanted us to invite them?" Carlos asked, his eyes growing wide as he exchanged glances with his friends.

"Yeah," Riley nodded. "We figured that you would have gone ahead and invited them anyway, when we asked you guys over." She gave a half-smile when she noticed their apprehension. "Ah, don't worry about it, I'll just send Jo a text and she'll let the others know." She pulled her phone from her pocket and started to pace around as she made a text.

"You guys seem happier," Logan said to Rhuben as he gave her a hug.

"We are," Rhuben replied with a smile and a nod. "But you guys should be happy too," she reminded him. "Your CD is basically flying off the shelves, and your performance at the Dallas-Miami game was amazing." She turned to face the four boys and Katie. "Really, you all should be proud; you're doing so much better than this time last year."

"Thanks for that vote of confidence." James reached out and purposefully messed up her hair.

"They'll be over in, like, twenty minutes." Riley said as she put her phone back in her pocket. She picked up another box and walked it over to the porch before going back to pick up another one. Carlos grabbed another one and started to help her. "Oh, it's alright CareBear, we don't need help."

"It's alright, I like helping." Carlos replied with a grin.

"ARGH!" Sydney shouted as he popped out of the box that Carlos was holding onto. Carlos screamed at the top of his lungs, dropping the box and scrambling backwards as the others stopped and laughed at him. Sydney was laughing the hardest as he crawled out of the box, getting to his feet. "Sorry Dude," he apologized, shaking his head. "I was supposed to scare Patrick, but you got to the box first."

"Oh, don't worry about it." Carlos waved a hand as he held the other one over his chest. "I needed to have my heart rate checked."

"Nice one Syd," Katie said and gave him a high-ten. "Now," she put her arm around his shoulders. "Let me show you how you can scare them when they least expect it."

"Don't go giving him any ideas," Rhuben remarked as she sat down on a step on the front porch. "We already had to get him out of his phase where he would continuously put frozen marbles in our beds."

"I can't help it," Sydney replied with an impish smile. "I'm 10 and I'm just trying to re-live the childhood I never got to live."

"You sound more like you're 25." Julius commented as he and Brittany walked out of the house, arm in arm. Julius reached down and lightly patted his baby brother on the back. "Mind getting the lemonade pitcher?"

"Sure." Sydney replied before scampering into the house.

"Hey," James leaned forward and shook Julius' hand in greeting, giving Brittany a nod as well. "Have you guys found an apartment yet? 'Cause there's a listing in the newspaper for some pretty sweet ones just this morning." He said helpfully.

"Yeah, we put a deposit down on one that's about a half hour drive away," Brittany replied as she wrapped her arms around Julius' waist and leaned into his side as he hugged her. "It's not too far but it's not too close either." She added with a mischievous smile.

Riley rolled her eyes as she shook her head before turning to Kendall. "She's just getting tired of being scared so easily." She said in a stage-whisper.

"Knowing you guys, that's not surprising." Kendall replied with a teasing smile as he leaned forward and pressed his forehead against hers. "By the way, what are you doing tonight?" He asked, putting an arm around her shoulders.

"Uh, probably sleeping after all of this moving." Riley replied, lightly pushing him away. "At least," she tossed her hair over her shoulder. "That's what I had planned before I realized that you guys were coming over to help us unpack." She twisted her mouth to the side as she looked at the boxes that were strewn around the front yard. "Should have guessed that things wouldn't move faster with you lot distracting us."

"But that's why we're your friends," Carlos said as he opened his arms and gave her a big bear hug. "Because we distract you guys from boring tasks."

Ronan smiled as he and Kacy walked out of the house and over to the moving truck to get some more things. Kacy walked up the ramp into the truck and grabbed a box, turning and handing it to him. Ronan took the box from Kacy and set it on the ground. Being able to move into a house with his kids just let him know that things were definitely going to be better. He always wanted to get a house for himself, but he now realized that the whole time he had been house hunting, he had been thinking of a house that his kids would like to hang out in. Even before he had adopted them, they were usually his every other thought. It was sort of strange to him, going from a bachelor that was fine living on his own, to a man that matured quickly to become a father-figure when he met the Jacksons for the first time. Now all of the drama was over and things were progressing really quickly.

Ronan reached out a hand and helped Kacy down from the moving truck before reaching over to grab the box again. She hurried over to the other side and helped him pick it up. Ronan gave her a look. "I had surgery on my knee, I'm not dying." He reminded her gently, tilting his back so he was carrying the box himself. Kacy gave him a look and he continued to walk up the driveway with her following him.

"You only had surgery a few weeks ago," Kacy reminded him. "And you're still limping a little bit." She rested her hand on his arm as they continued walking.

"Limping doesn't mean that someone's that hurt," Ronan said as he set the box in the grass with the others. He looked them over before looking back at the moving truck. "We have more stuff than I thought." He muttered to himself as he looked at the cluttered from yard before turning to her. "I haven't used my muscles extensively and the doctor said that I have another week left until I can go running, but if I move slowly, things will be fine." He leaned forward and kissed her on the cheek. "Trust me; I know what I'm doing."

"Hm," Kacy crossed her arms over her chest. "Famous last words." She commented.

"Knowing my luck, probably." Ronan replied and turned when he heard a car approaching. He raised a hand over his face and waved as a limo pulled up, knowing that it was Gustavo and Kelly even before they had gotten out of the car. "Why am I not surprised that he took a limo?"

"Be nice." Kacy reminded him.

"They two of my best friends, when am I _not _nice?" Ronan asked. He turned and noticed Patrick and Noah wrestling on the ground and snapped his fingers loudly. "Hey, be careful! I'm not taking you to the hospital if you break your arm or something!"

"Isn't that part of the point of being a father, though?" Kelly asked as she walked up the driveway towards Ronan and Kacy. She grinned before giving the two of them hugs. "Sorry we're late," she held up a shopping bag. "We had to stop at the grocery store because Gustavo ate all of the dessert before we even left his mansion."

"A guy's got to be able to indulge himself sometime." Gustavo replied with a modest shrug as he approached them as well. "So when do we eat?"

"Good to see that your diet is keeping your hunger pangs down." Ronan teased, taking a step back as Gustavo reached out to hit him in the stomach. "Watch the knee." He warned him, laughing like a little boy as he blocked Gustavo's hits towards his chest. "Oh, do you want to go?"

"Bring it, McGuire!" Gustavo replied, thumping himself on the chest.

"Boys." Kelly and Kacy both shook their heads, as they rolled their eyes.

"Sweet, Gustavo vs. Ronan," Logan declared as everyone walked over to the edge of the driveway to watch. He rubbed his hands together. "This should be interesting, by my calculations Ronan has the better chance of winning almost 4:1" he declared.

"Mmm," Sydney tapped his chin. "More like 3:1," he corrected his smarter friend.

Logan adopted a look of annoyance as he rolled his eyes, looking towards the sky. Rhuben chuckled as she rested her chin on his shoulder. "You should get used to it," she reminded him as she lightly poked him in the chest. "If you're going to be around a lot, all of Sydney's corrections are going to get on your every last nerve."

Logan turned his head and lightly rested his cheek on her forehead. "I think I can handle it."

Patrick darted forward as Gustavo took a shot towards the basket and the basketball bounced out. He grabbed it and passed the ball over to Julius and he took a quick shot, easily sinking it in. Julius grabbed the ball as he it came back down and passed it to Patrick as Gustavo moved to cover him. "DarkElements versus Big Time Rush, Katie, Gustavo, Kelly, and Mama Knight." Patrick said as he bounce-passed the basketball over to Ronan. "Game on!"

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **Thanks for everyone that supported me with this story. It came to me after listening to Elevate for the first time and talking with Rhu about which of the songs were our favorites. Now, I might do a sequel to this, depending on how it takes for them to put out their 3rd CD. Would you want me to do a prequel to it for the first one as well? Let me know!

Thanks so much for all of the reviews, favorites, and alerts that were added to the story. All of your support helped me continue to write. It was all for you. Thanks so much and see you at my next story.

Everything that I didn't really show here but I wanted to (Kendall's, Katie's, and the Jacksons' reaction to Ronan and Kacy dating, some ex-husband drama, and other points that suddenly went away) will be shown in my story 'Someone Like You'.

Cheers,

-Riley


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